Pulp Fiction
by The Pyromancer
Summary: Follows Original Character Sekai Nanasawa as she tries to survive the mysterious island her and her classmates have found themselves stranded on. Rated M for attempted rape, nudity and scenes of violence.
1. Chapter 1: Redeye

******Revised Author's Note: I'm putting this up to inform current readers that I fused Chapter 1 with chapters 3 and 4 which were side chapters that took place along side the events in chapter 1. I also adjusted titles and moved everything else around to accommodate this change.**

******Author's notes**: Please read and review, I would like to hear feedback on this story. I like Cage of Eden's story so for the most part I decided to create a story that could run side by side with it. I plan to later have the characters from the Manga show up, but I want to show what is happening with those crash survivors Sengoku doesn't meet, as there were around 300 people on the plane and it is a fairly large island, there must at least be one other person still alive, and I want to tell the stories of how they survive the horrors of the island.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Chapter 1: Redeye**

"When you're sixteen going on seventeen…"

'Hey Sekai, what're you watching?'

Sekai looked up from her computer screen to see her best friend Kimiko looking down at her. She took off her head phones and paused the video.

'Just watching an old movie,' said Sekai.

'Another one of your American films? What's this one called?' asked Kimiko, sitting down in the seat next to Sekai.

'A classic, called "The Sound of Music. It's based off of a Musical and is very good, you should watch it one day.'

Kimiko rolled her eyes. 'How many times have you seen this one?'

'Just once before, decided to watch it again since I went through all the other movies I had while in Guam.'

'Seriously, you and your American movies,' Kimiko sighed, brushing a lock of long brown hair out of her eyes. 'I don't see why you like them so much. What's the fascination for you?'

'Uh, don't really know, I just like them. Plus, if I study enough of them I might even be able to make it as a Hollywood actress!' Said Sekai, getting excited just like she always did when talking about American movies or her dream to be an Actress.

'Look over there, Sengoku's causing trouble again,' Said Kimiko, pointing to a very rowdy crowd huddled around a chair. 'Wonder what problems they're planning to cause now.'

Looking around the plane Sekai saw her classmates bustling around. Everywhere in the plane, groups of students could be seen or heard. Talking about their trip to Guam, about what they were going to do when the plane landed in Japan, or just chatting happily and animated about nothing in particular. Most of the other passengers on the plane were ignoring the rowdy students, though some could be seen giving angry or disapproving looks. Sekai even thought she could see what looked like a Buddhist monk peeking at some of the female students.

'Well, that's just a part of life right? Sengoku's trouble making antics, Mariya sitting over there on his own, clicking away on his computer. Or even Tohya over there in the corner, reading comics by herself,' said Sekai, pointing to a small girl curled up in her seat reading an American comic she had purchased in Guam.

'Or a certain someone ignoring everything around her to watch foreign movies,' replied Kimiko, with a sly smile.

'Well, it's just how we are. Nothing ever really changes, right?'

'I guess,' replied Kimiko, reclining in her seat. 'Guess I'll take a nap; wake me when something interesting happens.' Kimiko hated waiting; the only time she was ever still was while sleeping.

'Sure,' said Sekai, already putting her headphones back on as Kimiko started to close her eyes.

Without warning the plane started to shake violently. The passengers were thrown all over, with luggage bursting out of the overhead compartments. Kimiko was thrown screaming from her seat onto the floor. Sekai's laptop flew out of her lap onto the floor with the headphones flying off her head. Sekai was slammed forward in her seat, her head colliding with the chair in front of her. Before she could think another thought, the world turned black.

'Sekai,' from the void Sekai could hear a voice, calling her name. 'Sekai, are you ok? Wake up. Sekai…' Sekai recognized the voice and fought her way towards it and consciousness…

Snapping awake with a start, Sekai saw Kimiko sitting next to her staring down at her. Kimiko noticed that Sekai was awake, and gave a little cheer.

'You're awake! Thank God! I was worried for a while. You hit your head pretty hard there,' said Kimiko, talking really fast, showing that she had been very agitated and nervous and was finally releasing all of her stress. Sekai managed a small smile at the thought of how glad she was to have a friend as good and caring as Kimiko. Not noticing her friend's joy, Kimiko continued talking. 'The monk, Sicko or something I think his name was, said it was just a minor concussion and that you should be fine, but I wasn't sure. It's amazing though! No one was killed in the crash! Well, there were some serious injuries. And Sengoku, Mariya, and a Flight attendant are missing, but besides that, things seem fine! Well, not exactly fine. Seems we landed on an unidentified island that doesn't seem to be inhabited,' something in her tone gave Sekai the thought that Kimiko was attempting not to panic.

Sekai sat up and looked around. Night had fallen and large fires had been set up. Large groups of people sat around eating and chatting. Class 3-1's Akagami Rion could be seen chasing class 3-4's Morita Makoto, also known as 'Eiken', the school's resident camera nut. Sekai heard a rumbling noise and looked to see a sheepish Kimiko holding her stomach.

'You take it easy; I'll go get us some food,' said Kimiko, standing up and walking away.

After a few minutes of sitting there and getting her bearings, Sekai slowly stood up and stretched. Finding no problems, she touched her forehead and felt a large bruise. Walking slowly, she headed to the plane with the idea to check out the state of her carry-on and to get some stuff from her bag. She climbed up the slide and looked into the plane. Luggage and junk was scattered everywhere. Working her way forward she made it to her seat and got her backpack down from the rack.

Before she could look in her bag, she heard several screams. Rushing to a window, she saw a scene from hell. People were screaming while running and pushing their ways to and up the slides. Down below, giant, brown furred monsters with oversized mouths were eating people. Sekai saw Kimiko looking around for her. As the monsters approached, she turned to run, but was pushed towards one of the monsters by a man with messy black hair. Sekai could only watch in horror as Kimiko's life was crushed out of her by the monster's jaws. Turning around and dropping down into her seat, Sekai just stared at nothing, too stunned to even cry. Kimiko, her best friend, was dead. She just sat there in silence, time and the world around her meant nothing. Sekai barely noticed when the chaos erupted and everyone went insane.

Her first hint of trouble came when a hand shot out of the chaos and pushed her against the plane wall. Snapping out of her stupor, she looked up and saw messy, shoulder length black hair and crazed brown eyes. Sekai vaguely recognized the person as a boy from her class who sat behind her and always refused to make eye contact with her.

The boy didn't speak; he didn't seem to be in the mood. Instead he roughly shoved Sekai into the seat again and grabbed her shirt in both hands and ripped it down the middle. Sekai was too surprised and stunned by recent events to even scream. The chaos around was just a background track to the insanity she was now living. Some part of her seemed to recognize and understand the danger she was in. Her right knee came up and slammed into the boy's crotch. Gasping in pain the boy fell over backwards. Running on autopilot, knowing in the back of her mind that the plane was not safe for her anymore, she ran. Her backpack gripped in one hand, Sekai vaulted over her still moaning assailant and into the aisle. She had barely taken a step when a hand shot out and grabbed her leg. Sekai tumbled down hard onto the floor. Turning on her back, she saw her attacker jump onto her. With hunger in his eyes, he made sure to hold down her legs and arms with his. Fear and helplessness assaulted her as she struggled to free herself to no avail. She wasn't willing to give in but could feel her strength ebbing while the boy just seemed to get stronger.

In her panic to figure out a way out of the situation, she noticed that a panel was lifted slightly up on the floor. From the darkness, she could see two Amber eyes staring at her. She returned the gaze, pleading with all of her might for a way out. Suddenly, the door opened up, and out of the darkness came a monster. The boy on top of Sekai never knew what hit him. One moment he was preparing to assault her, the next he was sailing through the air and landed in the middle of a particularly violent section of the chaos that had engulfed the plane.

Sekai was lifted off of the floor and out of the plane as if riding the wind. The trip was a blur to her confused mind, one moment on the floor of the plane, the next she was outside among the trees and the fading night.

She could feel gentle hands lower her to the ground softly and lean her against a tree. Out of the darkness of both the night and the fog that had been surrounding her mind almost since waking, she heard a gruff voice speak to her.

"Are you okay?" asked the voice. It took Sekai a second to realize why the voice sounded weird to her, but then she placed it. English, she thought, the voice was speaking English to her. The voice asked again, slower this time. "Are you okay? Do you speak English?" Gathering her thoughts and her energy, Sekai responded to the voice.

"Yai." she said, then, after taking a deep breath, spoke again. "Yes, I speak English."

"Good, I was worried you wouldn't." And even in her fogged state of mind she could hear his relief. And in the next moment, her mind realized something she had only noticed on the peripheries of her mind, the voice belonged to a male, and he spoke without an accent. A native English speaker, she thought to herself. The voice then asked again, with care in his voice. "How are you doing?"

"I think I am doing okay, I just need a second to get my bearings," Sekai responded in slow, accented English. Even though she was knowledgeable in English from language lessons and watching movies, she didn't speak the language a lot and was having some trouble remembering the right words in her fogged state of mind.

"Okay, do you have spare clothes in your bag?" Asked the voice, and Sekai heard a weird note in his tone. After a second she had placed it, embarrassment. Why would he be embarrassed? She asked herself.

A gust of wind blew through the night air, the feel of its cool embrace caressing her bare skin, and all of the night's events came back to her as she finally managed to wake up from her stupor. The crash, darkness, waking up to see Kimiko, getting her bag from the plane, the monsters, Kimiko's death, the boy( Tooyama Shigure was his name, Sekai finally remembered) assaulting her, and then her mysterious rescue.

Looking down, Sekai saw the sorry state of her clothes. Her shirt was completely ripped down the middle, revealing her whole torso. Her skirt had been ripped off when she had been on the plane, and was probably still lying somewhere there. Both knees had been scrapped either when scrambling up the slide or when running away from Shigure. Sekai was too tired mentally and physically to feel embarrassed, she just opened up her backpack, which she had unconsciously grabbed and brought with her in her flight, and got out the spare set of clothes and some comfortable shoes she had set aside for emergencies. Taking off her ragged shirt, she shoved it in her bag in case of future need, and also took off her school shoes, which joined the shirt in the bag. Then she put on her spare T-shirt, blue jeans and shoes. Finally clothed, she looked for the first time at her savior while in the background the sun finally started to rise on the dark night.

He was tall, possibly even taller than her classmate, Yarai Koichi. Maybe somewhere around 2 meters in height, Sekai thought to herself. His back was to her so she couldn't make out anything of his face. Even through the long jacket he was wearing Sekai could see that he was powerfully built. Over his left shoulder he had slung a worn out duffle bag. Gathering her courage, Sekai spoke.

"You can turn around now, I am changed." Obliging, the man turned around and faced her. He had short brown hair and a scraggly bearded face. The man didn't look to be that old, not more than his mid 20's. Sekai's gaze was drawn to his eyes. They were amber and unwavering, but not, Sekai thought, unkind. Despite his size, to Sekai he looked like an animal who wanted nothing more than to flee. Deciding that if he gave him to much time he might just do that, Sekai spoke up again. "Thank you for saving me from the plane."

"No problem, though I'm sorry for not being able to stop him before he ripped your clothes." The man suddenly colored, and Sekai was caught with the duel impression of a child who had seen something he shouldn't have and a man who was angry at his powerlessness and swearing to never let it happen again.

"They are just clothes, you saved me from that mad house and that is more than I could ever repay you for," Replied Sekai. "My name is Nanasawa Sekai and I am in your debt. Could you tell me your name?" The man seemed to hesitate at this question. Taking a moment to consider, he answered her question.

"My name is Max Samson, nice to meet you." Sekai thought that he seemed to tense up with that sentence, once again seeming like he was ready to bolt at the slightest hint of trouble.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Max," said Sekai, trying to remember how she should speak to English speakers and erring on the side of formality.

"Just call me Max, please." He replied.

"Sure, Max." The sentence seemed weird to her, but it seemed to calm Max down. Then, he suddenly seemed to realize something, and asked her a question.

"Um, what do I call you? You're Japanese right? I seem to remember you refer to people differently there." And he seemed yet again embarrassed, causing a weird contrast to his large and intimidating form. Sekai was suddenly struck by some insight and ventured a question.

"Um, I hate to be stereotyping here, but are you by chance American?"

"Uh, yes, I am."

"Ok, just wanted to confirm something," replied Sekai. No wonder he doesn't know how what to call me! She thought to herself. I bet he has enough knowledge to know that we use honorifics but probably not enough know what they are. Then after thinking through the question for a moment, she answered him. "You can call me Nanasawa," She felt heat rising to her face at this weird conversation. Being called by her surname without an honorific by a man she had just met a few minutes before felt weird to her, but it seemed simpler and he had saved her, so he had probably earned the right.

"Ok, Nanasawa," he said, testing out the name.

In the background, the sun rose and illuminated the island where all of the survivors of the night's events would have to work hard to survive and live their new lives. Sekai never even considered running back to the plane to rejoin with her classmates and the other passengers, some part of her seemed to realize that her best hope for survival was here in front of her, and if she didn't grab it now, then she would miss her chance forever.

"Max, I have a question for you."

"Yes?" Max asked, curious.

"What do you plan to do now?"

"Well, I think I'll check out this place, I didn't really see a lot when we landed, my only view of everything was when I ran off of the plane. Plus, the plane and all those people isn't really a safe place for me, I can't speak Japanese so there would probably be some problems." Sekai thought that there seemed something wrong about his statements, but right then didn't seem the time to ask, right then seemed the time to act.

"Can I come along with you?" Asked Sekai, Max only stared in surprise, it never seeming to have crossed his mind that anyone one would ask to stay in his company for longer than was necessary.

"Err, are you sure you want to do that and not go back to meet up with your friends?"

"My best friend is dead." Replied Sekai bluntly. "The people back at that plane are crazy; I do not think I can go back there. That boy who assaulted me, Shigure is probably there too, it is not safe for me there either."

For a moment, Max just stood there staring, and then taking a deep breath, he smiled.

"Sure, I guess if that's what you want, but I don't plan to take many breaks, I hope you are prepared for a hike."

* * *

Yuuki ran with all of his might.

'What the hell is wrong with these people?' he muttered out loud to no one in particular.

Just a little while before the plane he had been on had crash. Everything had seemed to be looking up though, with the news that the radio would soon be repaired and help could be found. Then things had gone downhill from there. Monsters had soon come and started killing people. Yuuki had always had quick reflexes and was good at thinking quickly when action was needed. It took him only a second to classify the attackers as a threat he couldn't handle. In the next second he had grabbed hold of his sister's hand, and gotten her up the slide and to safety. When the monsters had tried to climb up after them, he had been one of the few people to not just stand around and had hurled objects at them until they had left.

Yuuki had then turned around to find his sister curled up in a seat near him singing softly to herself. Miho had always liked singing, and in times of stress she used it to cope. It pained him to see his sister like this, he loved to see her smile, her happiness kept him going even when battered and bruised. Before he could comfort her though, he was distracted by several screams. Turning to face the front of the plane, he found that the pilot had been stabbed. People where yelling about being lied to and starting to panic. None of it mattered to Yuuki beyond making sure it didn't upset his sister. He had walked over and tried to calm people down, but one of the adults on the plane had already cracked from the pressure. The man swung his fist at Yuuki, and acting on years of training and experience he blocked the weak attack, and swung back. Yuuki's fist connected with the man's face, knocking him out cold. As the man collapsed backwards and landed on the floor, chaos broke out in the plane.

Several other passengers swung at Yuuki, lashing out at the closet target. Almost in an offhand fashion, Yuuki countered them all, taking them all out in one strike each. He just wanted to get to the back of the plane and his sister. As he closed in on were he had left her, he saw her still sitting curled up, singing under her breath. A girl wearing his school's uniform approached Miho, and went to attack her, screaming.

'You stuck up bitch!'

Time seemed to slow down around him, and Yuuki rushed forward, punching the girl in the side before she could hit his sister. He felt her ribs crack under his fist, not that it was his problem. He grabbed his sister's arm, and led her out of the madness that was the plane, preferring to take his chances with the outside world. The chaos inside the plane wasn't good for Miho's physical or mental health.

Down the slide they went, and into the dark they ran. They ran until they made it to the edge of the forest and Yuuki judged that it was safe enough to take a short break from running. Not feeling the least bit tired, Yuuki looked back to check on how his sister was doing. Miho was still singing softly to herself, locked in her own little world. Yuuki wished he could comfort her, but even when disconnected from the world; his sister would be too bright to believe his lies. He stared into his sister's face, contemplating how to fix her worries. Suddenly, her eyes lit up in alarm, staring at a space behind Yuuki.

Yuuki started to turn, realized there was a threat, and instead threw himself on top of his sister and to the ground. Large teeth flashed over the spot that they had been standing. Running on adrenaline and knowing that a single second of inaction could cost him his sister's life, Yuuki instinctively lashed out with a side kick. His foot met some slight resistance, but the next second he felt the resistance give way with a snap. He pushed Miho away from the threat and grabbed some dirt. Yuuki sprang to his feet, throwing the dirt at the area the threat should be. He saw one of the large monsters from before with a broken leg and blinded by the dirt. The monster retreated, going off to seek easier prey.

Only once it was out of sight did Yuuki lower his guard. He could feel his adrenaline draining away, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted. Turning around, he faced Miho who was still on the ground. Leaning forward, he helped her to her feet and held her in his arms, giving her silent comfort. He could feel the tension in her body give way, and heard her singing slowly die off as her mind was pulled back to reality.

'Don't worry,' he said soothingly. 'I won't let them hurt you. You're safe now.'

Still silent, Miho returned his embrace. They stood there for a few minutes, and then disengaging, they walked silently, hand in hand into the dark forest, ready to take on any challenge and survive.

* * *

Gripping her backpack in both arms, Ayumi slid down the emergency slide and landed on the ground. She looked over her shoulder to see if she was being pursued and saw that no one was behind her. _Good_, she thought to herself, _I don't want to meet anyone from that plane until they have time to cool off, madness has taken them all._

Fear and confusion had been building up since the crash, and with the discovery of the islands monstrous inhabitants and the death of the plane's pilot, it had all suddenly erupted. Ayumi had witnessed the passengers mindlessly assaulting each other, and decided to flee. A small voice in her head had tried to convince her to attempt to calm everyone down, but soon it had become apparent that the only way was to let the storm spend itself. Plus, Ayumi wasn't very big and being a bit shy at the best of times had trouble talking to people. This was definitely NOT the best of times.

Confident that no one was following her, Ayumi felt a slight twinge of sadness that there was no one on the plane who would care about her enough to chase after her. She had always been a small side presence in her class. Never causing trouble and never standing out, except maybe in how little she associated with her classmates. It wasn't that she thought herself superior; she just enjoyed reading by herself. Whenever she did try to talk to people, she could never seem to keep a conversation going. They would always degenerate into awkward silence, thus giving her less and less incentive to attempt conversing. The only one who ever seemed to share any of her interests or be able to hold a conversation with her was her grandfather.

But Ayumi's grandfather wasn't here, though he had urged her on the trip, saying it would be a good experience for her. He had encouraged her to try and talk with her classmates in a more relaxed environment. She had seriously attempted it in Guam, but had ended in failure. On the plane ride, no one had bothered her while she had read some American Comic books she had managed to find in Guam.

Now, Ayumi ran towards the forest, away from the people she couldn't seem to understand. If she was honest with herself, part of her reason for running was because she felt the same insanity in herself that she saw in the plane. _What I need now_, she thought to herself, _is a nice cool, quiet place to just sit down, relax, and to calm myself down_. She ran into the forest regardless of the risk of monsters, fearing only those that she had left behind.

Once she had entered the forest, Ayumi slowed down. Walking carefully between the trees with her backpack on her back, she took deep cleansing breaths to calm her racing heart. She wasn't sure how long she had been walking, or even if she was going in a straight line. Soon (or at least it seemed soon to her) she came across a clearing with a person in it. Ayumi quickly rushed behind a tree, hoping she hadn't been spotted. Peeking around the tree, she saw that the person was just standing there, showing no signs of recognition that someone else was near.

As Ayumi pondered if she should approach the person, she heard a twig snap nearby in the forest. From behind the person came one of the monsters that had attacked the plane passengers earlier, setting off the insanity that was Ayumi's new life. Looking, Ayumi saw that the person wasn't even moving, just standing there. The monster slowly approached, opening its jaws and signaling its intent to attack. As Ayumi prepared to run while the monster was busy, she started to question her actions. _Is what I am about to do the right thing? _She wondered.

In times like this, when she didn't know what to do, she asked herself: What would Grandfather do? The answer? The right thing. He would risk his life to save this person he didn't know. That's what he had done for 35 years as a fire fighter, constantly putting his life at risk for complete and utter strangers. Even when his daughter and her husband had passed away and he found himself in charge of his two year old granddaughter, he had continued with his work. One day as he went off to work, she had begged him not to go. He bent down and hugged her, saying 'I love you, and I don't plan on leaving you anytime soon. I need to go, that way other people can enjoy the company of their loved ones just like us.' Then he had stood up, and left her still standing there. Ayumi hadn't felt angry or sad at him, but proud, promising to herself, that from then on, she would be just as brave as him.

Before she could think about it anymore, or have any second thoughts, she ran into the clearing.

'Behind you!' she yelled to the person, running forward as she did so, hoping that she could stop this tragedy before it unfolded. The person, a woman, Ayumi could now see, turned and faced the monster. The woman seemed to relax, slowly coming back towards the world. The monster, finding that its prey knew what was happening, rushed forwards, opening up its jaws for the kill. Ayumi ripped her backpack off of her back and threw it with all of her might at the monster. The bag slammed directly into the monsters face, halting it, not in pain, but in confusion. The woman still stood there, seeming catatonic. Still rushing forward, Ayumi managed to tackle the woman to the ground right as the monster tried to bite her. Rolling to her feet, Ayumi turned to the woman who was still on the ground by the monster and yelled.

'Get up! We need to get out of here or it'll eat us!' she pleaded with the motionless woman. 'Don't you want to live?' Running on adrenaline and for some reason not caring what could happen to her, Ayumi grabbed the woman around her chest and started to pull her away. The monster turned to look at them, growled, and then charged. Ayumi, finally consumed by fear, closed her eyes and screamed. Expecting to feel teeth ripping into her, she was surprised when she heard two loud bangs.

Opening her eyes, Ayumi saw that the monster was on the ground, dead, and that the woman at her feet was holding a still smoking gun. Ayumi let go of the woman, not able to comprehend what had happened. Rising to her feet, the woman holstered her gun in a leg holster, and stared at Ayumi.

'Thank you.' said the woman. 'You saved my life.' Ayumi just stood there in wide eyed wonder for a few minutes, but finally found her voice.

'How do you have a gun?' she swallowed and continued. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Erika Phelps. I am a United States Sky Marshall,' responded Erika, taking out a badge. They just stood there, staring at each other for several minutes. Finally, Ayumi gathered her courage and asked the question on her mind.

'Now what? What do you plan to do now?'

'What do I plan to do?' asked Erika 'Survive.'

'May I join you?'

'Sure kid, I owe you my life.' and as they walked away together, Ayumi reflected on her luck, with this, she might actually survive.


	2. Chapter 2: Live Free or Die Hard

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 2: Live Free or Die Hard**

As the rays from the morning sun shined down on her, Sekai wondered on the strange fate that had brought her to this moment. Just the day before she had been a regular Junior High School girl at a regular Japanese Junior High School. Her class had gone to Guam on a School Excursion, and on their plane trip back to Japan mysterious circumstances had landed their plane on a just as mysterious island. Sekai rubbed her forehead, remembering how she had hit it on the seat in front of her, knocking her out until the night of their crash. Waking up she had found her classmates and the other passengers chatting and eating around large camp fires outside of the plane. Events had seemed to play out quickly for her after that. Monsters out of a nightmare had come, and with their oversized jaws had killed her best friend Kimiko. Then, before she could adjust to the shock, a classmate she barely knew had assaulted her, ripping her clothes and trying to force himself on her. Sekai had barely been able to put up a resistance. Though she was in fairly good health, she had never been what could be considered athletic, plus recent events had left her shaken and barely in touch with the reality she now found herself in.

Lost in her thoughts, Sekai didn't notice when the man in front of her stopped hiking up the hill. Still thinking, she walked straight into him as he was turning around to face her. Surprised at the sudden obstacle in her path, Sekai lost her balance for a second. Before she could fall, strong arms shot out and steadied her. Sekai looked up into the face of her savior, Max Samson. He was a very large man; with a beard on his face he looked almost wild. His hair was cut unevenly, making her think he had cut it himself. Sekai had first seen him while being assaulted by her classmate. From the hatch on the floor that led to the cargo room, Sekai had seen his amber eyes staring directly at her. She had returned the gaze, pleading for help. Like a demon released from its prison by a contract, he had seemed to fly out of the floor. With barely seeming to put any effort into it, he had lifted the boy off of her and thrown him to the side like a rag doll. Max had seemed to her at the time as a wind, gently lifting her off the ground and taking her out of the plane and the insanity of its occupants.

After they were safe, she had confronted her savior, finding out his name and asked that he take her with him. Max had agreed, and now here they were, walking up the hill on their second day after crashing on the island.

Max looked down and returned her gaze; in his eyes she could see great strength, but also great kindness. Sekai considered herself very good at reading people, though she had thought her classmate Shigure harmless, and had been wrong. Something about the man before her told her she wasn't wrong. If she wanted to survive, he was her best chance, and she was not going to pass that up.

"How are you doing Nanasawa? Do you think you can make it to the top of the hill without help?" Asked Max in English. Now that she had had some time to clear her head, Sekai could feel questions worming around in the back of her head. Why had this man been heading to Japan when he couldn't speak a word of Japanese? He didn't look like a business man or a tourist.

"I am doing fine," Replied Sekai in halting English. She was used to hearing English from the American movies she watched, and had practiced reading it, but when it came to speaking it she hadn't really practiced. Sekai figured it would take her a little practice to start responding quicker, but at this point she was just struggling to remember the correct responses. _Hopefully my accent doesn't confuse him,_ she thought to herself.

"Good, if you need help just speak up, won't do any good if you get in trouble we could have prevented by just by asking for assistance," Said Max curtly, though not unkindly. Sekai felt that, like every other sentence he spoke, there seemed to be a story behind this statement. Max turned and started trekking up the hill again. Paying more attention to walking and the man in front of her than before, Sekai caught brief almost unnoticeable glances from Max as he checked on her progress.

Looking over her shoulder, Sekai could see people ambling among the trees as they walked away from the plane without a destination in mind. Not even considering turning around and meeting up with the other crash survivors, Sekai turned back to stare at Max, who had made it to the top of the hill and was now waiting for her to finish the ascent. Making it to the top, Sekai plopped down on the ground, wishing she had tried harder during physical education class. The top of the small hill was clear of trees with the only plants being small bushes. One side overlooked a small drop into the forest. Max crouched down and stared at her.

"Ok Nanasawa, now that we're up here, let's check on what supplies we have," said Max, taking off his duffel bag and placing it between them. He unzipped it and emptied the contents onto the ground. In the pile of stuff Sekai saw a t-shirt, a pair of worn jeans, a pair of socks, a baseball cap with the word LA on it, a coil of rope, 2 canteens, a bag of trail mix, 3 oatmeal bars, a sleeping bag, and a small pouch. Looking up at her, Max spoke up. "Could you empty all of your stuff into the pile?"

"Uh, sure," replied Sekai taking off her backpack and emptying it onto the dirt. While she did so, Max had emptied his pockets and was taking off his jacket. Underneath, he was wearing a plain worn out brown t-shirt and was obviously well built and in good shape. But what really surprised Sekai was the worn leather belt he was wearing, which had strapped to it two knife sheaths, knives included. He unhooked the belt and took off the knives, adding them to the pile, and put his belt back on. Still staring at the knives, Sekai couldn't stop herself from asking.

"How did you get those on the plane? Should not those have been grabbed by security?" When the words were out of her mouth, it occurred to her this might not be a safe question to ask a large unknown man with two knives. But when she looked up at Max, he didn't seem angry or threatening, but had a sheepish look on his face, like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

"Uh, I didn't exactly go through security at the airport."

Sekai wondered at this statement and finally was struck by a thought that had been worrying away at the back of her mind. She hadn't seen him at anytime while boarding or on the flight. Only when he had come up out of the floor had Sekai seen Max. Even not paying attention she thought she would have noticed a man like this, or one of her classmates would have pointed him out.

"You snuck on board the plane," said Sekai suddenly hit by the realization.

"I wasn't able to get a plane ticket so I snuck into the Luggage hold," replied Max, who had gone back to sorting out their supplies. From Sekai's backpack had come an unopened water bottle, 2 chocolate bars, her school shoes, and her ripped school shirt. Her DVD player, headphones and "The Sound of Music" were some where underneath her seat on the plane probably. All of her other possessions were back on the plane in her luggage. "Do I have your permission to divide the supplies up between us?" asked Max, looking up at her from his work sorting.

"Uh sure I guess." replied Sekai. Looking back down at the ground, he started putting the supplies into two piles. He put all of his clothes, the sleeping bag, coil of rope, pouch, the bag of trail mix, a chocolate bar, an oatmeal bar, and a knife and the belt in one pile. In the other pile he placed Sekai's clothes, her ripped shirt, a chocolate bar, an oatmeal bar, and to her surprise one of the knives. Max than carefully pored roughly half of the water bottle's contents into each of the canteens and put on in each pile. To the pile with Sekai's clothes, he also added the now empty water bottle.

"Ok, this should be fairly even. Sadly I drank all of my water and ate most of my food on the plane ride, but this should be fine until we can find more. Here, eat this," said Max, handing the third oatmeal bar to Sekai. "We'll save the rest for when we need it, but you should probably eat now." He started repacking everything in his pile into his bag, leaving out only the coil of rope, his knife and his belt. While Sekai nibbled on her oatmeal bar, Max also packed up her supplies into her bag, leaving out only the knife. Grabbing the rope, he stood up slowly. "Can you stand up please?"

Swallowing the last of the oatmeal bar, Sekai slowly stood up, stretching as she did so. Max uncoiled the robe and started walking towards her.

"Don't panic, I just want to measure your waist. I'm going to cut off a section of rope so that you'll have a makeshift belt." He walked behind her with the rope. "Can you hold your arms up?"

"Sure." said Sekai. If Max was planning anything bad for her, he would have done it before when she had been half conscience and unable to fight back, so she felt no fear when he walked behind her. Carefully he slipped his arms around her, feeding the rope through her belt loops, measuring out a section of rope. When the rope had been measured out, he walked in front of her and cut the rope. He then tied the piece on her, and coiled up the rest. Max walked over to his duffel and crouched down, putting the rope away. He then put on his belt and attached his knife. Finally he slipped back into his jacket. While he had been doing this, Sekai had just been standing and watching him, trying to figure out this man she found herself with.

Max stood up and looked at Sekai. Holding out his hand, she saw that he had the second knife in it.

"Here," he said, "This is for you. I don't really need more than one, plus it will make things easier if you have to fend for yourself." Sekai slowly reached out and grabbed the knife from Max. Looking at it she saw that the sheath was made of leather with no markings on it. She pulled the knife out and examined it. The handle was slightly rounded and wrapped in several leather rings. Between the handle and the blade was a small guard. Sekai guessed it was about 15 centimeters long, with the blade edge on one side and the other side was dull. At the base of the blade by the guard were four English letters, USMC. _Is that the makers of the knife?_ She wondered.

Sekai returned the knife to its sheath and belted it onto her rope. This simple action and the knife seemed to give her a back a sense of power and control she had previously thought lost to her. She looked up at Max.

"Thank you." She said, giving a small bow. Sekai saw Max's face turn red in embarrassment at her gratitude.

"No problem." He replied. "There's no point in bringing along someone and refusing to give them a way to protect themselves. The knife you have is useful in both combat and other more mundane chores. Do you have any training or practice in camping or outdoor survival?"

"No." admitted Sekai. "I have never been very much into the outdoors."

"Ok, then until you're able to fend for yourself you need to follow all of my instructions and stick close by. Whenever we do an action like sleeping or relieving ourselves one of us always needs to be on guard. We can't risk being relaxed on an island we know nothing about when there are only two of us. Our first goal today will be to explore and try to find some water. More than food we need water, and once we have some in our canteens we will be able to explore easier." He suddenly turned red again, and took a breath, preparing to continue to speaking. "On the note of water and relieving ourselves, can you stand on guard while I take a piss into that bush?"

Sekai nodded, starting to look around as Max turned around and she heard a zipper open. A few seconds later she heard the noise of water poring onto the ground. Trying not to think about it too much, Sekai looked all around, paying as much attention to her surroundings as she could. She heard the flow of water taper off, and heard a zipping noise. From behind her, Max spoke up.

"Ok, I'm done. Do you need to go before we move out?" He asked. Sekai felt comfortable around Max and felt that she could trust him, but the American talking so casually about her relieving herself in front of a male in the middle of a clearing brought a blush to her cheeks, and made her glad she was looking the other way. Now that he had mentioned it, Sekai found herself having trouble resisting having to go pee. After taking a few seconds to get herself under control, she turned to Max.

"Uh, sure," they switched places, with Max taking a guard position, hand on his knife. She stood there for a few seconds, but he never looked at her. Finally Sekai convinced herself that the situation wasn't going to get any less embarrassing the more she waited, so she untied the belt and unzipped her pants. She paused for a second, but Max didn't look back at her as she slowly lowered her pants. Deciding to go for it, she lowered her underwear and started to relieve herself.

As she finished up, she heard movement from where max was standing, and she looked up. The American was looking away from her, having drawn his knife.

"Are you almost done?" He asked, worry in his voice. "We have company." From the forest edge came a rustling noise and like out of a nightmare lurched one of the creatures that had attacked and killed Kimiko the night before. Now that it was day and she had a clear head, Sekai saw that the monster was some type of large four legged predator. It had an oversized head with large yellow teeth. The monster was covered in thick brown fur. As Sekai hurried to put her pants back up, and tie up her belt, she noticed that this one moved with a slight limp.

_Is it injured? _She wondered to herself. Finishing up with tying her belt, Sekai moved to stand with Max.

"So, what is the plan?" While she had been putting her pants on, the monster had gotten close, and seemed ready to attack at any second.

"Stand back please, I'm going to take it on." replied Max, stepping forward.

"What!" Blurted out Sekai in surprise, "You are going to fight that thing? Should not we try to run away?"

"Behind us is a slight drop and the plane, I'm not sure we'll be any safer back there. It's also too close for us to escape from the sides. Plus, this one is injured and I want to see if I can take it in a fight. If I can take these things down when we meet them, then doesn't that mean we'll have an advantage? If it looks like I'm going to fail, run as fast and as far as you can," Max looked at here, but she could see that his real focus was on the monster in front of him. Sekai didn't know why, but he seemed to have some ulterior motive to take on this large headed monstrosity besides the reasons he had listed.

Turning back to face the beast, Max settled into a fighting stance and edged forwards. Sekai backed up a bit towards the ledge to give him fighting room, and then drew her knife. Despite Max's command to run and her own fear, Sekai promised herself that if she could she would rush in and save him. Max had saved her life; it was only fair she return the favor. Also, she could see that he seemed confident in his ability to handle himself, so she stood and watched, hoping to learn how to defend herself in the future.

They stood there, staring at each other for several moments, both combatants searching for an opening. They each seemed to recognize on a primal level the threat the other posed. Surprising her, Max was the first one the make a move. He rushed forward, moving to the left to strike at the beast's flank. The monster moved to strike at him, putting weight on its injured leg and biting at where Max was going to be, and missed. At the last second the American had pulled out of the faint and moved to strike at the other side. The monster didn't have time to respond as it started to topple to the side as its leg gave out.

Like a bolt of lightning, Max struck at the stumbling beast, tackling it to the ground and striking at the monsters side with the knife in his right hand. He gave it no time to respond as he jumped onto his fallen foe and proceeded to stab his knife into the monster's large neck. As the monster shuddered, Max slashed his knife across its throat, blood spilling out in his wake.

The monster gave one last shudder as its life fled its body and then collapsed, dead. Max slowly dismounted his foe, and wiped his knife clean on its fur. Kicking it once for good measure, he approached Sekai, a grin on his face.

"Haven't felt a challenge like that since my days at Boot Camp," He picked up his fallen duffel bag, and looked to Sekai. "You ready to move out?" Sekai nodded, still partially stunned in disbelief. As they walked into the forest, Sekai looked back at the dead beast and wondered at the chance that had landed her with this monstrous American, and glad that he seemed to be on her side.


	3. Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly**

Sekai stood up on the hill and watched as the flames engulfed the plane that had brought her to this strange island. She didn't know how it had happened, but on this, the second night after the crash, a fire had started amid the ruins from her old life. Her luggage was still on the plane and would probably soon become ashes.

Sekai felt nothing. No fear, no anger, no joy, and no surprise. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel, but she figured she should have been feeling something. The Japanese girl looked to her right and saw her companion and savior, Max Samson, standing next to her. The American man just stood quietly, staring at the flames, letting out no hint of what he was thinking.

"We'll stop here for the night," said Max, breaking the silence. He put his duffel bag down on the ground and pulled out an oatmeal bar and took a bite, taking his time chewing. Sekai put her bag down and took out her own oatmeal bar. They sat there in silence, just eating while the flames from the still burning plane illuminated the night.

* * *

Below the hill in the jungle Yuuki and Miho Hayasaka stood together watching the burning plane. Yuuki saw his sister shaking next to him. He took her hand and squeezed it.

'Why don't you sing us a song?' he suggested, trying to get her mind off of the burning wreck. Miho nodded then took a deep breath.

'What will you be doing tomorrow around this time?

You probably think the same old usual routine.

It would be nice if that were true.

We used to go to classes and do homework with our friends.

Afterschool, karaoke and relaxing while watching television.

Eating bento prepared by mother, protected by my brother,

Life seemed like it would never change.

It would be nice if that were true.

The castaways on the island of monsters.

People will attack each other here.

Friends will become enemies.

Classmates will be assaulted

Lovers will be broken.

For the weak there are only two choices.

Become food for the strong.

Or become strong themselves.

The troublemakers will become leaders.

The shy will find hidden steel.

What was once considered trivial will become valuable knowledge.

What was once considered quirks will become a necessary skill.

What will you being doing tomorrow around this time?'

Yuuki sat entranced by Miho's singing. He was usually an apathetic person and didn't get emotional when it came to movies or things like that, but when it came to Miho's singing, he couldn't help but just…feel. Through the song he had felt the despair in what had seemed like a hopeless song, but suddenly a ray of light had shot through him. It had illuminated the night, and he could feel himself becoming heartened as his sister's singing conveyed her own growing hope.

She continued singing long into the night, the haunting verses seeming to keep the darkness at bay. Miho only stopped when the flames of the plane died out. The events of the day finally caught up to them, and they fell asleep next to each other. No monsters dared to approach the sleeping couple, as if they were protected by some magical force created by the power of the song.

* * *

They had spent their first real day on the island looking for water and food. Neither Ayumi nor Erika had anything in their backpacks that would constitute a survival pack. Ayumi's bag held a change of clothes, some American comic books and a can of Pringles she had bought the day before leaving Guam, but had never gotten to eating. Erika also had a change of clothes, along with a bottle of water she had bought on the plane, a pack of gum, a Sky Mall magazine and her gun.

Some bushes had provided some sour berries and a nearby river some water. These discoveries had taken most of their day and few words had been said between them. As night had started to fall, they had started to make camp, munching on the last of the berries. The fire had started suddenly, drawing both of their attention.

Ayumi had stared at the pillar of flame, trying to understand what she was seeing. Erika spoke up, confirming the girl's worst fear.

'That's the direction of the plane. I'm going to go get a better view, stay here, I'll be right back.' The woman took out her gun, and carrying it at the ready, walked through the dark trees towards the plane.

Ayumi sat there in the jungle as the sun set, the sky matching the flames. She pulled out one of her comics, trying to distract herself from the creeping dread. After a few minutes, she heard a sound and jumped up. Turning to face it, she saw Erika returning, looking grim. Her expression told the girl her fears were correct but she needed to hear it to really believe it.

'What's going on Phelps-san?'

'It seems the plane has somehow caught fire.' She replied bluntly. 'I don't know what happened but I would guess it was either an accident of someone who stayed on the plane, or more likely, arson.'

Ayumi collapsed onto the ground. She hadn't even realized until that moment how much she had been pining her hopes on the existence of the plane. As long as it was there, there had been a place to return. It had been her connection to her old life. Without the plane there, the chance of a rescue seemed to become nothing.

She felt despair creeping up on her as she held her legs close to her chest and started to weep into them. _Grandpa, save me. I can't do this without you. I've never been strong, why do I have to do this alone? Why did this happen to me? Did I do something wrong? Am I really a bad person, is that why this is happening?_ Ayumi's thoughts started to spiral downwards into despair. She recognized what was happening but couldn't get herself to stop thinking negatively.

Ayumi felt a comforting arm slide across her back. She was pulled into an embrace, her tear streaked face being pulled into something soft and warm. The girl looked up and saw Erika looking down at her. The older woman looked down at the small girl and stared straight into her eyes. Ayumi felt consumed by the fire that burned in the Sky Marshalls eyes. The determination to survive was visible, and Ayumi felt the desire to survive.

'Things may look bleak, but they aren't hopeless,' said Erika. 'As long as I'm here, nothing will harm you. In return, I just need you to do one thing for me.'

Ayumi felt curiosity filling her and she couldn't help but ask.

'What?' she asked, softly.

'Smile,' replied the woman, a smile appearing on her face. She pulled the small girl into her embrace once again. This time Ayumi returned the hug, tears of joy started to flow down her face.

'Okay,' she replied, a smile bursting forth on her buried face.

* * *

Far away from the crash site of the plane that had brought Sekai and her classmates to the island was a cave. Unaware of the fire and his future encounters with the islands new inhabitants slept a small wolf pup nestled in the soft, warm fur of his mother. They were the only survivors of their pack. After the night had passed, they would emerge from the cave looking for a new safe haven. Their path will lead them across the island to a fate that will change their lives forever.

* * *

Shigure Tooyama, third year junior high student and attempted rapist sat against a tree staring at the flames that surrounded the plane that had brought him to the island. The flames seemed to trigger something in him, and started to reflect on the life he had led up to this point.

He had never been a talkative person, and people had avoided him because of it. It didn't help that he seemed to have a brooding air around him constantly. The only person he ever talked to was his uncle.

His uncle had taken him in when his parents had died two years before and had always managed to bring out the best in his teenage nephew. Akira Tooyama was a survival guide and taught classes on basic survival techniques. They had spent many fun weekends out in the mountains camping or hiking. His uncle had taught him and he had learned, only feeling alive when outside with his uncle.

Shigure had always found class boring. Luckily fate usually transpired to give him a back seat by the window, allowing him to stare outside instead of listening to the teachers boring chatter. He had thought he would never find anything interesting at school, until the beginning of his third year. Sitting down for the first day of class he had looked around briefly and noticed pretty much all of the same faces as previous years in his class.

His gaze had been drawn briefly to one girl he didn't recognize. She was of average height, and proportions, with short brown hair and light brown eyes. Nothing about her was especially special or stood out except in how average she seemed. He had then gone back to staring out the window and ignored her until the teacher walked in and started the class.

Shigure had groaned when he saw that his homeroom teacher was yet again Sonoda. The old man had a way too cheery demeanor and always made everyone stand up, introduce themselves and their dreams. He didn't disappoint this time either. Everyone let out a slight groan, but stood up as they were called and did as they were told. Shigure heard his name called, and he stood up.

'I am Tooyama Shigure. I don't have a dream,' and with that short introduction, he sat down. He went back to staring out the window, waiting for class to end. A voice caught his attention though and he turned to see the same girl from before standing up and introducing herself.

'I am Nanasawa Sekai. My dream is to move to America and become a famous Hollywood actress!' she said the last sentence with enthusiasm, her whole being seeming to shine to Shigure. He had heard many people say their dreams before, but something about her had mesmerized him. She had so much enthusiasm, so much sincerity, he couldn't help but believe she could and would achieve her dream.

From that moment on he had secretly observed Sekai. He had found out that she lived nearby to him, which had made his research easier. She would go to acting lessons twice a week at a nearby studio. He had secretly watched one once and found himself mesmerized.

Sekai was like a second sun for the gloomy boy. She wasn't exactly outgoing, but if she was with her friend Kimiko or acting, that's when she would shine. Shigure had even started watching American movies, with subtitles of course, just to find out what she seemed so fascinated with.

He had spent most of his third year trying to get up the courage to just talk to her, and promised himself he would do so no later than the end of the school trip to Guam. On the plane back he had been a few seats behind Sekai and Kimiko trying to work himself up to approaching them and just trying to start a conversation.

This goal had been forever put to a halt by the strange circumstances that had led to the plane crashing. When the passengers had moved from the plane to outside, he had assisted in gathering up wood and starting the fires. It hadn't occurred to him until after the monsters had come that dangerous animals might actually be attracted by the fire instead of repelled.

He had fought his way back inside the plane in a panic. Once inside he had looked around. Sekai had just been sitting there, stunned and unmoving. He had wanted to go over and comfort her, but couldn't seem to get himself to move. When the pilot of the plane had been found to be lying about the radio working and been stabbed for it, panic had broken out. Shigure had felt something snap inside him, and without thinking had finally managed to approach Sekai.

Instead of comforting her, he had grabbed her and pushed her down. Fear had turned his fascination into something much darker. He had started to rip at her clothing, managing to get her skirt off. Before he could do anything else though, she had kneed him in the groin and started to make a break for safety.

He had stopped her, and straddling her this time so she couldn't fight back, started to feel her up. She had been softer than he had ever imagined. Suddenly something had hit him from nowhere and thrown him into a group of fighting plane passengers.

Kicking and screaming he had fought his way out of the mess. He had looked around and saw that Sekai wasn't anywhere to be seen. Shigure had then grabbed up his bag and ran to the end of the plane, searching for her. Looking outside he had seen nothing. No monsters and no Sekai. The adrenaline from his attempted rape had started wearing off and the cold horror of what he had tried to do was filling him. He needed to apologize no matter what. After he had done so, then he'd leave her alone and never get close to her again. He realized her was bleeding from lots of cuts, so before leaving he grabbed up the planes first aid kits and had headed into the waiting jungle.

After searching for a while and not finding her close to the plane, he had finally started to bandage up his cuts. After a short rest under a tree, he had stood up as the sun started to break the night and continued his search. An hour or so of searching led him to believe he had been going in the wrong direction and he had headed back towards the plane.

The sound of screaming broke him out of his trip down memory lane. Looking around he saw that the fire from the plane seemed to have almost burned itself out. The screaming continued, so giving a tired sigh, Shigure stood up and grabbed his bag from where he had hung it on a low hanging tree branch. He held the straps firmly in his hands as he lowered it gently to the ground.

The bag was partially open, to allow air in so he unzipped it the rest of the way and looked inside. The inside of the bag was stuffed to the brim with blankets he had pilfered from the plane just a few hours before. Bundled up in the blankets was a sleeping newborn girl named Natsu. They had met just a few hours before when he had encountered her sleeping mother underneath a tree.

Natsu Kizaki and her husband Haru Kizaki had been working overseas as instructors at a local University there. They had been a part of the nursing program and Aki had refused to leave for Japan until they were done with the semester.

All of this he had found out while talking to the extremely cheerful and chatty woman. She had woken up when he had approached her, and then invited him to sit and talk with her. Shigure had also found out her husband had been killed the night before when the monsters had attacked. He had gotten Natsu back onto the plane quickly, but one of the giants had bitten his leg, crushing it and pulling him down to his death.

Shigure had just sat there awkwardly, not sure how to respond. Natsu had seemed sad but hadn't been crying. Had he been supposed to comfort her somehow? He had never really interacted with anyone but his uncle and his uncle was usually the one doing the comforting in those cases. They had sat there for what felt like a long time until Natsu had suddenly let out a gasp. She had started to feel some kicking, signaling that the baby was arriving more than a month early.

Shigure had just sat there for a few seconds, too stunned to reply. It felt too much like a plot out of a manga to be real. Only the woman's groaning had snapped him out of it. Following Natsu's instructions he had spent the next hour collecting supplies from the plane and a nearby river he had discovered earlier.

Events had progressed both agonizingly slowly and extremely quickly. If asked to repeat the events of before he'd only be able to respond about the result, seeming to have forgotten the actions he had undertaken. He had cut the umbilical cord with a knife pilfered from the planes kitchen. After handing the crying newborn girl to Natsu, she had named her Aki then, with a smile, just seemed to fade away.

Shigure had washed Aki very carefully of all the fluids still on her then wrapped her in the blankets to stay warm. He had also managed to find several books on raising children in Natsu's bag and had been reading them before drifting off into his memories.

The boy took out the little girl, and with a care and gentleness even he wouldn't expect possible of himself, rocked her to sleep again, humming a cheerful tune. Under the tree lay Natsu, tired out from giving birth, but still very much alive.

Shigure wondered if staying with the two invalids was a smart move. He could instead leave on his own and look for Sekai, she might need his help. The boy only considered that line of thought for a moment though, dismissing it quickly. Leaving these two would be tantamount to murder. Plus, even though he had only known them for a few hours, he found himself feeling extremely protective of the mother and daughter.

As the night wore on Shigure found himself unable to sleep. He stayed up until dawn taking care of Aki and watching over Natsu. The sun started to rise in the sky, illuminating the burnt wreckage of the plane, signaling the end of the survivors' old lives and the beginning of their new ones on the island.


	4. Chapter 4: Singing in the Rain

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 4: Singing in the Rain**

Sekai moved slowly towards her target, one mistake could mean serious injury or worse. She pulled herself up onto the next branch, making sure it was stable. Once she was sure it would hold, she inched across it, and reached out and grabbed the last fruit from the tree and put it into her backpack with the rest of the haul.

"That's the last of them." yelled Sekai. Max turned around and looked up from his guard position at the base of the tree.

"Got it, drop them." said Max, holding his arms out. Sekai carefully dropped the bag into the American's waiting arms. He put the bag down onto the ground and returned to scanning the surrounding area for trouble, hand on his knife. Sekai didn't bother to ask for help, she had proven to be good at climbing trees, a skill she was now proud of. Max couldn't be helping her every second, as she had realized early in their partnership. At the beginning he had had to spend most of his time helping her survive, but slowly bit by bit she had been coming into new skills and proving herself. It had been several weeks since the crash and now she was finally starting to adapt.

Sekai looked up once more at the sky, watching as grey clouds started to make a move on the island. _Looks like we'll have rain soon._ She thought. She started slowly lowering herself to the ground. One of the first lessons Max had taught her had been some of his father's favorite sayings, "Measure twice, cut once," and "Haste makes waste." In the first few days she had been too eager to prove herself and almost ended up injured. Max had turned on her angrily. "What were you thinking?!" He had yelled. "Were you trying to get yourself killed?! If I hadn't been here that's what would have happened!" She had started crying at that point, scared, and let out all of her emotions she had held pent up since the crash. "I was just trying to help!" She had wailed.

While she had sat there with tears in her eyes, Max had crouched down in front of her and had put his hand on her head. Looking up into his eyes she had seen regret at his outburst, and worry. "I'm sorry I yelled, but that was dangerous. There is no reason to rush or put yourself in danger. We'll be a lot worse off if you get injured. First rule of survival is that now we are a team. No single acts of heroism, and no moving without first thinking about the consequences."

Sekai hopped off the last branch and landed onto the forest floor. She scooped up her backpack from its spot at the base of the tree then turned to face Max, who still had his back to her.

"Ready to move out?" he asked, still staring into the forest, on the lookout for trouble.

"Yep," Said Sekai. "Though we should probably hurry and find shelter, looks like rain." Together they walked out of the forest, neither saying a word. Max wasn't a very talkative person and so far all Sekai had really found out was that he had a father. She hadn't really worried about her lack of knowledge about her new mentor though, she had too busy learning to survive and to make sure the lessons weren't in vain. After a little while of walking, they made it out of the trees and into a clearing. The sky was now completely grey, threatening rain at a moment's notice.

"Over there," Said Max, pointing to a cliff side. As they approached Sekai saw that it was a cave. Max seemed to have a sixth sense for discovering caves and other dwellings on the island, and they usually had shelter when they needed it. Max stopped and turned to her. "Ok, we need to grab wood for a fire before it starts raining. I'll go get the wood, can you check out the cave, make sure it's empty?"

Sekai nodded and headed to the cave, drawing her knife. Max had taught her how to fight, but she hadn't been in an actual fight, and wasn't sure if she was eager for one or not. Slowly walking into the cave, Sekai found it empty. She put down her bag, and started gathering up stones, and making a ring for their fire. As she finished, Max arrived with wood, slightly wet from the light drizzle that had started. He put the wood down and started placing pieces into the ring. He then took his duffel off of his shoulder and opened it up. From the bag he took out a small cloth bag, which held some flint and steel. Max hit the two objects against each other, nursing the fire along.

When the fire was going he threw a piece of wood in and turned to Sekai, who had taken out their food for the day. They still had the food they had brought with them the day of the crash, having had no trouble collecting fruits and nuts around the island. Max had always been the first to eat a new type of food, claiming seniority, but Sekai thought that he did it in case the food was actually poisonous.

They sat there in silence eating dinner as the rain came pouring down outside the cave. After they had finished eating, Max threw another piece of wood into the fire and just stared into the flames. Sekai was usually too tired to do anything by the time they stopped for the night, but today had been fairly easy, and had been cut short by the rain. She decided that now might be a good time to find out more about her mysterious partner. _But how to start?_ She wondered.

"So," Said Sekai, causing Max to look up at her. "I was wondering if you would be up to telling me about yourself. We've been together for about 2 weeks now and I realized I don't know anything about you." She said, opting for the truth. Her English had definitely improved from use and she could now communicate with no trouble. Max looked at her, then taking a breath, spoke.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, and then with a mischievous grin asked, "And do I get to find out about you in payment?" Sekai felt herself turning red, but pushed it back, keeping her composure. As an actress there were times she would need to control herself and do something different from how she felt, and even on this island she hadn't given up on her dream to make it to Hollywood. Sekai considered herself good at reading people, and she felt that Max was trustworthy, but sometimes she got mixed signals from him. Sometimes he seemed serious, others almost childlike. He could be as polite as a host or as crude as a gangster. Sekai just couldn't seem to figure him out; he seemed to have no set personality. What bugged her most was how he got angry at her for risking her life, but whenever they met any dangerous wildlife, like the monster from the first day after the crash, he would charge in regardless of the risk. _It's almost like he doesn't care about living._ Thought Sekai. If she wanted to pin down who he was, she would need to know more. And, though she would refuse to admit it, she wanted to know more about this man, Max Samson, that she now found herself with. _It would be kind of nice to get to know him well enough that we could stop calling each other by our surnames. I could call him Samson and he could call me Sekai… _At this last thought she felt her face turn bright red again, and this time she couldn't stop it.

Sekai stood up and walked to the mouth of the cave, feeling the cold air rush in and cooling her down. She stood there for a minute taking calming breaths, and then when she had cooled down, she walked back to her seat by the fire, Max watching her the whole time, curiosity written on his face.

"Is that a no to the question session?" He asked.

"No, I'm fine with telling you about myself, I was just remembering something." She lied.

"What were you remembering? My awesome chest as I bathed in the pond a few days ago?" teased Max, causing her to blush again and him to smile. Sekai was surprised at his responses though, he was being a lot more open and casual than she had expected. He seemed to be acting as if she was a good old friend. At the moment he reminded her of her best friend. Sekai's face fell at the thought of Kimiko, and Max stopped smiling.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to." He apologized.

"No, you didn't offend me; I was just remembering my best friend, Kimiko. Since we met in kindergarten she would always tease me. She...died the night of the crash when those monsters attacked. I saw it from the plane, but couldn't do anything to stop it.

"I'm sorry for your loss." said Max, sounding truly sorry.

They sat there in an awkward silence for a few minutes, the flames crackling in the ring. Max was the one who broke the silence, shifting slightly as he spoke up.

"My name is Max Samson, and I'm from Los Angeles, California." He Said. Sekai looked up at him in confusion, and he smiled back at her. "I told you a little about myself; now tell me a little about yourself." Sekai felt warmth in her chest at his obvious attempt to cheer her up out of her black mood.

"Ok then, if you insist." She responded. "My name is Nanasawa Sekai, from Tokyo, Japan." And then figuring since it had been her idea originally, she continued. "I am 15 years old and my birthday is the 22nd of February. Now it's your turn again."

"Ah, so it's like that huh?" said Max, smiling. "Fine then, I was born July 4th, currently 19 years old." At this Sekai couldn't help gaping in surprise.

"You're only 19? I could have sworn from how you looked that you were in your mid 20's at least!" Only after she said it did she realize it might come out as rude, but Max only smiled.

"I get that a lot. I figure the beard probably doesn't help things." He said, rubbing his face. "The first time my buddy Slick saw me he thought I was his CO." He chuckled at the memory.

"CO?"

"Commanding Officer. I was reporting for my first day of Boot camp and I was the last one there. I remember rushing to get to the barracks, then right outside I stopped, composed myself and walked in. I apparently seemed so confident that all of my squad mates jumped to their feet and saluted me. Then, right after our actual commander came in and called us to attention, we got commended for being the most attentive group he's ever met." Max broke out into laughter at the memory. Sekai also gave a chuckle, enjoying the story, but it also brought up even more questions. What was this "Boot camp"? Why was Max there? His friends also sounded interesting, Sekai wanted to know more about it all. After 2 weeks of no information on the only person in her company she was getting very curious. Max stopped laughing and continued speaking. "So, anything else you want to know?"

Sekai thought about it for a moment, and then responded. "You said commanding Officer; does that mean you were in the military?"

"I went to Boot camp, and trained to be a Marine. After the twelve week training period I was discharged, for personal reasons." replied Max.

"Ah," Said Sekai, trying to think of another question to ask and pondering this new information. If he had trained to be a Marine then that went a long way to explaining how he was as good at surviving as he was. "Do you have any family?"

At the question Max's gaze drifted down to the still crackling flames. He just sat there for a minute, staring into the fire. Right when Sekai was about to speak up to apologize for asking about what seemed to be a sensitive subject, he spoke.

"My mother died soon after I had been born. She was hit by a car that was running a light as she walked back to our house from the store with some groceries. For most of my life I just lived with my father, and he never remarried. He was killed a few months ago by a vicious murderer. The man just broke into our house, killed my father and stole all of our money. Since then I've just been traveling around the world, Japan was my next stop from Guam, but since I have no money I had to sneak onto the plane." He then fell silent and they just sat there, Max staring at the fire and Sekai staring at him. Outside the rain could be heard, still pouring down hard. Max looked up at her and smiled. "Sorry about being a downer. How about you tell me more about yourself, we did have a deal after all."

Sekai appreciated the gesture he was making to lift the dark mood and decided to oblige.

"Is there anything you want to know about?" She asked

"How about why you and your friend were on the plane? Were you vacationing with your family or friends?"

"It was a school trip. It's a tradition for the last year of Junior high school."

"Wow, that's unfair. For my last year of middle school my friends and I got jumped by some drug dealers who wanted my father to help them out. They took us to some hut in the middle of the desert." Max frowned, apparently realizing something. "You said you're 15, isn't that too old for being in 8th grade?"

"Schools in Japan have three years of Junior high School, so in the United States I would be in 9th grade."

"Ah. You know, I've been wondering, but do all Japanese speak English as well as you do? You seem pretty good at it, rough at first, but you never had too much trouble understanding me."

"Not really. Everyone has to take English classes, but most don't really retain much, it isn't that necessary. If you went up to most of my classmates and said something in English to them they would give you a blank stare. I've always enjoyed American movies, so naturally I picked up an interest in learning the language and culture. Don't laugh, but my dream has always been to become a famous Hollywood actress."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing. Do you take acting lessons?"

"Every Tuesday and Thursday afterschool for two hours."

"What is your favorite movie?"

"I would say it was a three way tie between Pixar's Up, Star Wars and Schindler's List."

"That's a pretty varied group. I was expecting older movies actually. And Up is animated; I thought you wanted to be an actress?"

"It was older movies that got me into American films, like Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind, and while those hold a special place for me, these movies are the ones I have enjoyed the most or that moved me the most. While Up may be animated, it still takes actors and actresses. We may call them different names, but their performances are still what make or break the film. I don't care if I get a job as an actress that shows my face or not, what really matters is my performance." Sekai could feel excitement rising as she spoke. This was her dream; she wanted others to understand movies as she saw them.

"So, why do you like each of those movies?" Asked Max, curiosity written all over his face. He also seemed to be warming up to this topic. "Was it their stories? Their acting? The special effects?"

"For Up I loved how they told us the story of Ellie and Carl in less than 10 minutes, making us feel for the characters and imagine the happiness and sadness of their lives. Despite his loss, Carl still stuck to his dream, and in the end succeeded. I was moved by the story of Oskar Schindler as he changed his beliefs and protected the Jews from the Nazi's at risk to himself. And in Star War's I enjoyed the whole series, the special effects, the story of the Skywalker family, and the rise and fall of the Empire." Sekai leaned back against the cave wall, tired out from talking so much and with so much energy and enthusiasm. She ventured a question to Max. "I've been talking all of this time about myself, but what about you? What's your favorite movie?"

"Lion King." He answered without hesitation. "I saw it when I was little, and it has always stuck with me." He turned thoughtful for a few minutes, silence yet again engulfing them, and then he suddenly started laughing. Sekai started at the sound. She looked at Max quizzically. "Sorry," he apologized. "I just realized something."

Before Sekai could inquire further, a cry broke through the air. Max and Sekai looked at each other then moved slowly to the entrance of the cave. Looking outside Sekai saw that a nearby river was overflowing from the rain. She was about to look away to try to find the source of the cry when she saw a figure floating along in the dangerous current.

"Over there!" said Sekai, pointing to the figure. Max took one look in the direction of her finger, and then started running.

"You wait here, I'll be right back!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Sekai looked back into the cave and saw that the fire was dwindling. She carefully added wood and nursed it back to health. When Max saved the figure in the river, she didn't think about if he failed, then they would both be cold and in need of a warm fire. Sekai was checking their food when she heard the sound of footsteps form outside. Getting up she ran to the entrance to help Max with the person, and was surprised at what she saw standing outside.

Max walked into the cave soaking wet, shaking, and alone. It was this last that stopped Sekai for a moment, but only a moment. She rushed forward and hurried him inside the cave.

"You need to take off those clothes; you'll catch a cold otherwise."

Without any of the jokes he had been cracking recently, he followed her orders and started stripping, throwing his wet clothes into a pile by the cave entrance. While he did this Sekai went to his bag and got out his spare set of clothes. She handed him the clothes along with her old ripped school shirt.

"Use the shirt to wipe off all the water and change into those quickly." As he complied, silence ruled throughout the cave, neither saying a word until Max was done.

"You can turn around now Nanasawa." Sekai did so and saw a mostly dry Max standing in front of her, but he seemed to be a bit shaky from the cold.

"Get in the sleeping bag and warm up by the fire." She said firmly. He complied, and they just sat there by the fire for several minutes, neither speaking. Finally Max broke the silence.

"I failed."

"Huh?"

"I failed to save the man who was in the river." He said, never looking away from the fire. "I chased after him as he was pulled screaming down the river by the current. Finally the river branched off into three, and he was pulled into the far one. The river was too wide and the ground too wet for me to cross, and I watched as he was pulled away from me, yelling in fear before being finally pulled under."

Sekai was too stunned by the account to say anything for a long time, but this time the silence was broken not by talking, but by the flash of lighting, followed by the loud clapping of thunder. Sekai jumped at the sound, but Max reacted even more violently. He flailed around in the sleeping bag, his eyes wide with fear, and the color drained from his face. Max huddled into his sleeping bag as far as he could, looking to Sekai as if he was bracing for the next strike. When a few minutes later another clap of thunder followed the first, he reacted just as much as the first, shaking uncontrollably.

Sekai was at a loss on what to do. She knew her companion had just failed to save a life, was soaked to the bone, and apparently didn't react well around lightning, but she had no clue on how to help him. _Why am I always so powerless_, she thought to herself. _I failed to save Kimiko, and now this… _Remembering her friend made her remember their last conversations together, and she suddenly had an idea. Sekai took a deep breath, and started to sing.

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens." As she said the first line, she saw Max's gaze turn towards her. Noticing that he was reacting to the song, she continued, trying to imbue a confidence she wasn't sure she felt into the song. "Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things!" She almost shouted the last words. Remembering when she had first heard the same song in "The Sound of Music", Sekai had felt a connection to the children, and remembered when during storms she had done the same type of thing to banish fear.

"Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things!" In this situation Sekai could now feel a connection to the main character of the movie, Maria, as she tried to comfort the children disturbed by the lightning. Max turned to face her, caught on her every word. She continued, putting as much confidence as she could, hoping to make her listener feel safe from the turmoil that blew outside the cave.

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs, These are a few of my favorite things!" Taking a deep breath, she plunged back in, tunelessly but with spirit. Sekai felt her own spirits lifting, and hoped that her companion felt the same. "When the dog bites! When the Bee stings! When I'm feeling sad! I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad!" As soon as she finished, she went back to the first verse and started singing with gusto. Max chimed in, his rough voice hopelessly off tune but he said the words correctly and with confidence none the less. They finished the song the second time, and continued onto a third time. Heedless of the storm or any attempt at tune or rhythm, they continued singing for a long time until their voices drifted off from overuse and fatigue. The two collapsed to the ground tired, all fear having departed their souls long before their voices had given out. Max stared at Sekai, and laughed.

"That's the most fun I've had in a long time! I remember that I used to enjoy that song when I was younger. My father owned the soundtrack and I would listen to it during storms. I'm surprised and glad that you know that song, have you seen the movie "The sound of Music"?"

"Yes, I have," Replied Sekai, feeding more wood into the fire, which had died down a bit during their singing. "I was actually watching it for a second time on the flight back from Guam."

"Thank you for that, I'm sorry about how I just acted."

"No problem. We're a team after all, we help each other."

"Well, I think I'm going to sleep now, I'm beat from today. Wake me up when you get tired and I'll take my shift." And with that he drifted off to sleep.

Sekai just sat there, staring at the sleeping form in front of her. For some reason his presence instead of scaring her comforted her. _If he is with me then I believe we can survive this Island_, thought Sekai. She returned her gaze to the mouth of the cave, continuing her watch and feeding the fire every so often. Several hours later, Sekai woke up Max and lay down near to the fire, feeling warmth and comfort as she effortlessly drifted off to sleep.

As Sekai drifted off to sleep, Max stared at her. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed outside the cave as rain poured down from the sky. He hummed to himself, banishing any lingering childhood fear. Staring at the sleeping girl, Max made a vow to himself. _As long as I live, I will make sure this girl survives. Nothing will stop me. I've killed monsters worse than this; even if it takes my life she will survive, even if I have to kill anything in the way to do so._

Outside, the rain stared to slack off and dawn's rays shot through the clouds, banishing the night's horrors.


	5. Chapter 5: Dances With Wolves

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Please read and review.**

**Chapter 5: Dances with Wolves**

Blood...Blood everywhere…Sekai could hardly fathom the amount of blood on the ground below her. It seemed to cover everything in her field of vision. The pools of dark red liquid calling for her attention.

"So you want a piece of me you bastards! Come and get me!" yelled a voice from below. Slowly snapping out of her trance, Sekai saw Max running away from the clearing with a pack of howling, blood soaked boar-like monstrosities chasing after him.

_I need to help him_, Sekai thought to herself. But still she just clung onto the tree branch, unable to will herself to move. Paralyzed with fear, all she could do was watch as Max fled away from the tree and lured the monsters away from her.

Several days had passed since they had spent the night talking in the cave. The ground had finally dried so that every step didn't cover them in mud. They had proceeded slowly across the island, no destination in mind to spur them on, but knowing that they wouldn't get any closer to escaping the island by just staying in one spot. It had been a peaceful few days. The sun had been shining and birds could be heard, though based on the other life she had seen, Sekai didn't really fancy meeting any face to face.

Max and Sekai were quiet most of the time while traveling and foraging, they didn't want to waste any energy that might be needed to fight for there lives. Every night though when they settled down to rest, they shared a little bit more. Sekai had shared the story of how she had met Kimiko and their repeated arguments on the superior food, Ramen or Soba. Max for his part had told her about his buddies from Boot camp, including Timothy "Slick" Brown, and Angel "Jumper" Rodriguez. They had also talked about other random facts like favorite foods, but mostly about movies. Sekai had been surprised to learn how little Max knew about movies made in the United States. While he could recognize names he had never really been a fan of watching movies, he preferred to be outside camping or hanging with his friends. When he did watch movies they were usually animated films.

It had been one of those rare moments where they were chatting quietly about films that a scream had rung out from their right. They had turned to face the noise in time to see a figure burst through the bushes and collapse in front of them. Before they could help the person though, a giant cat monster thing had jumped out and pounced on the fallen person, ripping out its throat and covering the ground in blood.

The monster looked like a tiger, with two large front teeth coming out of its top jaw. _A saber-tooth tiger_? Thought Sekai. It had short hair with a mane running across the upper part of its back starting at the head. It looked up at the two humans, and growled. Max quickly moved in front of Sekai, pulling out his knife and settling into a fighting stance. The monster ripped a chunk out of its now deceased prey.

"Back away slowly." He said standing guard in case it made a move towards them. Sekai slowly edged backwards closer to the tree behind her. Suddenly with a crashing sound, the bushes behind the saber-toothed tiger exploded with activity as around a dozen giant boar things came rushing out. The smallest was about the same size as Sekai and the largest were larger than the tiger. They made straight towards the tiger and its prey. The tiger roared and charged the closest boar, ripping out its throat. One boar made straight to the dead human, ignoring all else, while another went straight for the dead boar. All of the others charged the tiger, mobbing it. Sekai could hear its screams as it fought back, biting and clawing at its assailants. Killing one boar got two boars off of it. One through death, and the other because it was distracted by its dead comrade. One of the boars decided to charge at Max. The American was ready for it and lashed out with his knife, injuring it. As it recoiled backwards in pain, he struck. The knife slashed across its throat, and ended embedded in its skull.

Max Stepped on the dead boar and yanked out his knife, wiping it off. The other boars had finished off the tiger and were fighting over its corpse. Three of them decided to head after the two living humans instead.

"Get in the tree!" yelled Max. "Now!" Sekai didn't need to be told twice. Fear controlling her movements she had fled up the tree at an incredible speed. While she was doing this, Max had gotten the boars attention and fled, leading them away.

Sekai sat up in that tree for an unknown amount of time, too paralyzed by fear to even weep at her own powerlessness. _What do I do now? Should I wait here for if he returns? Will Max be alright? Why didn't I move? Should I chase after him? Will I ever see him again? What is the point of being together with Max if I can't even pull my own weight? I just fled; I should have stood and fought…_

She sat in the tree with these thoughts consuming her. Once again Sekai felt the despair from the first night on the island creeping up on her. _NO! I can't give in! I need to do something!_

A cry interrupted her thoughts. _Someone else is in trouble! I won't fail this time!_ And with those thoughts in her head Sekai climbed quickly down the tree and headed in the direction of the cry. After a few minutes she burst out of the woods and saw a cropping of rocks. From the sound of things the cry was coming from there, Sekai headed over, pulling out her knife just in case.

What she saw surprised her for a moment. One of the boar monsters from before had cornered what looked like a wolf. The wolf was bleeding from multiple wounds and looked like it could barely stand. Behind it stood the source of the cry, a very distressed wolf pup. Sekai stood there, trying to decide what to do, but the boar made up her mind for her as it charged the wounded wolf. The boar monster bit into the wolf and finished it off. The pup sat there cowering in fear as the boar chewed on its mother. Sekai felt anger welling up inside her. In the pup and mother she saw all of the unfairness in the world that had sent them to this island in the first place. The violence that had taken away her best friend and the primal hunger that had separated her from Max. With a shout she rushed forward and charged the boar.

The boar, busy eating didn't manage to react quickly enough as the girl jumped on top of it and stabbed down with her knife repeatedly. Once, twice, three times… Sekai just kept stabbing, taking out all of her stress, anger and frustration from the past few weeks out on this symbol of all that was wrong with the world. The boar collapsed to the ground dead long before Sekai gave up stabbing it. Eventually the anger fled her body leaving her drained.

Sekai got off of the boar and stood up. Looking she saw the wolf pup sniffing its dead mother. She couldn't help it and broke down crying again. The wolf snuggled up to its mother, attempting to feel her warmth one last time. They sat there for a while, both mourning in their own way.

Eventually Sekai wiped away her tears and stood up again. She looked over and saw the pup resting next to its mother, refusing to believe that things were over. Sighing, Sekai wiped off her knife on the dead boar-monster. She was covered in its blood and would need a good washing. As she started to walk away to look for Max she heard a soft whimper come from the wolf. Turning she saw it walking up to her and rub against her leg, looking up expectantly at her.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." Sekai said, sadly. "I can't even help myself." But she found she couldn't turn away from this wolf. Sekai had a sudden flash of insight. This wolf was her the night of the crash. Stranded, having lost the person most precious to her. When she had thought she had no hope left a savior had come. Could this be her chance to help someone like Max had helped her? Was that even possible? This wasn't a person; this was a wolf, one of the monsters that had caused her so much pain and grief. If she took it in one day it might cost her life.

If she took in this wolf that would mean another person to look after. She was having trouble surviving already, and she still needed to find Max. Sekai thought of the American, what was he doing right now? What would he do in this situation? She looked down at her hand and saw her knife still in it. It would be so easy; she could end the pain of the wolf. It was very likely that it wouldn't be able to survive on its own. One quick slash and the dilemma of protecting it would be over. If there situations were reversed, wouldn't the wolf have just went and killed her? With a trembling hand, Sekai made up her mind and plunged her knife downwards.

She skinned off a section of the boar's side and cut out a strip of meat. Sekai chopped the meat into small chunks, and offered one to the wolf. Slowly it moved forward and sniffed her hand. It carefully took the piece of meat, eating it. It walked and rubbed against her hand, asking for more. She went through the rest of the bloody meat quickly. The wolf walked up and rubbed against her in delight. _Is this how wolves usually act? I've never had a dog before. Come to think of it, I've never had any pets before._ She looked down at the wolf and smiled.

"I feel kind of stupid talking to a wolf, but do you want to come with me?" The wolf just looked up at her wagging its tail. Sekai sighed, she had no clue if the wolf understood her intent, but she wasn't getting any closer to finding Max by sitting there. She stood up, and walked a few steps. She turned back, looked at the wolf and gestured it forward. As she continued walking, the wolf ran up next to her and paced along side her.

"Now what do I do?" she pondered out loud. Should she head back to the clearing where the boars first attacked? Maybe Max would have made it back there. Or should she head off in the direction that he had run it? Either way she needed to be careful and avoid all of the monsters roaming the woods. Plus now she had a companion who also needed protection. _Is this how Max feels when we're together?_ She really didn't want to return to the blood filled clearing, but sitting around in one place wasn't a good idea either. _What would Max do? _ She wondered. Looking up she saw that clouds had started forming, and rain seemed imminent.

"Well, that answers my question for me." She said, looking down at the wolf. "Guess we should find some shelter." With that there search for shelter started. They were too far away from the cave they had stayed in during the last storm, and the last few nights had been clear so they had been sleeping out in clearing that gave them good views of all possible areas a threat could come from. Sekai wished she knew how Max always seemed to be able to find shelter or safe places to camp in. So lacking his natural skill or knowledge, Sekai did the next best thing.

"Enie…meany…miney..MOE!" she said, quoting a line from some movie she had watched before but couldn't now remember the name. As she said the last word she pointed in a random direction. Deciding to commit, she started walking, the wolf following at her heels.

They walked in silence, Sekai praying she had chosen correctly. As the sky turned darker and darker, threatening rain at any moment, the two walked onward. Eventually the came out of the woods, and the first thing Sekai noticed was that the area they were in was clear of trees, and instead was rocky with uneven ground.

Sekai closed her eyes and sighed. Instead of finding shelter, all she had managed to do was get them out in the open. She then felt a drop of water on the back of her neck, and noticed that spots were showing on the ground where the rain was landing. They needed to find shelter soon or else they would end up soaked. As she tried to figure out what to do, the wolf ran off to slightly to the right.

"Hey! Where are you going!" she yelled after the wolf. Sekai sighed yet again and resigned herself to following; it wasn't like she was getting anywhere just standing there. She ran up the hill the wolf had just disappeared behind, and saw behind it the wolf, standing in front of a cave, waiting for her. A smile spread on her face. "Good going!"

Sekai ran to the cave to meet up with the wolf, but slowed as she approached, pulling out her knife. There was no telling if something had already inhabited the cave, and Max had taught her to not take chances when vigilance and staying alert would prevent the problem. They entered the cave, finding it empty. As they did so, lighting flashed outside flowed by the crash of thunder. Sekai flinched slightly, remembering the night she had spent with Max during the storm, and hoped he would be fine outside on his own. The wolf reacted more strongly, cowering in fear at the back of the cave, whimpering. Sekai attempted to approach him to calm him down, but the wolf tried to bite her hand out of fear. Pulling back, she wondered what to do.

_Should I sing like last time? Would that even work? It can't understand the words, what would be the point? NO! I've got to do something!_ Her resolve hardening, Sekai started to sing.

She sung loudly and with confidence. In her singing she tried to convey to the wolf that it was safe there with her. Sekai had no idea how long she sung or how many times she repeated the song, but eventually she felt something rub against her leg. The wolf had gotten next to her and was rubbing against her.

Another clap of thunder sounded from outside the cave, causing the wolf to tremble slightly. Sekai renewed singing with even more vigor. After another run through, a howl started to accompany her. Completely off tune, but enjoying it none the less, the two continued until they could sing no more.

Sekai lay down by the back wall, and faced the cave entrance, knife close by. She settled and relaxed, standing watch. The wolf joined her, snuggling close by, feeling safe in her presence. They sat there for a long time, relaxed by each other's presence, the lightning and thunder meaning nothing to them. Before she knew it, the day's hardships finally caught up to her and she fell asleep, a sleeping wolf by her side.


	6. Chapter 6: Must Love Dogs

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**Please read and review**

**Chapter 6: Must Love Dogs**

As Sekai opened her eyes in the morning, the first thing she noticed was that the rain had stopped and the sun was shining outside the cave. The second thing she realized was that the wolf pup was still sleeping soundly next to her. Both brought a smile to her face, making her feel like that day would be much better than the one before. The smile quickly disappeared from her face though when she saw a figure collapsed near the entrance to the cave. She stood up, and gasped as she recognized the person.

"Max!" She ran over and kneeled down next to the American. "Are you alright?" She lightly shook him, and realized that his clothes were completely soaked. Sekai looked at his face and saw that he looked redder than usual. Putting her hand to his forehead, she realized that he had a fever. Fighting down panic, Sekai tried to calm down. "What do I do, what do I do," 'what do I do…' In her panic, she didn't even realize she had slipped back into Japanese.

Sekai took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled_. First thing is I should get him into drier clothes._ She took another breath, and letting it out, started to undress her unconscious companion. The girl tried not to think about it as she pulled off his wet clothes. First his shoes, then his socks, followed by his shirt. She noticed small cuts and bruises dotting his body. _Are these all from yesterday?_

Before continuing stripping Max, Sekai opened up his duffel and got out his spare set of clothes. Luckily, it had managed to stay dry, surrounded by his jacket. Not for the first time, she wished they had a towel with them; it would have made things much easier. Sekai took another breath, and took off her companions pants. Then, trying not to think too hard about it, she took off his boxers. She quickly slipped on a fresh pair, then grabbed up the jacket, and used the dry parts to wipe off as much of the remaining water as she could. The girl then finished dressing her companion.

_Now what?_ She wondered. I _guess I need to warm him up, I think… _ Sekai grabbed up the sleeping bag which had also managed to magically stay dry, and struggled Max inside of it. As she finished, the pup walked over to her, growling at the unconscious newcomer.

"Don't worry, he's a friend of mine, he won't hurt you," she said. The wolf seemed to understand her meaning if not her words, and stopped growling. Sekai felt her stomach growl in hunger, and the wolf looked at her in curiosity. "Sounds like it's time for breakfast."

Sekai went to her bag and took out some of the fruit they had collected, and ate a piece. She looked at the wolf, wondering if he only ate meat. _I thought I heard somewhere that some wolves are omnivorous, but if he isn't, doesn't that mean I'm going to have to go out and kill something for food?_ Sekai shuddered at the thought of having to go out and purposely seek out one of the monsters on the island. She grabbed up some berries she had collected the day before. The wolf sniffed them in curiosity and carefully snatched one out of her hand. He ate it, yipped in joy, and prodded her hand for another. Sekai fed him the rest of the berries, and ate another fruit that resembled a pear.

Looking over the girl saw that Max was still sleeping. Sekai reached into her bag to get some water and realized that she was almost out. She decided to do an inventory of their supplies and discovered that they were both almost out of water. For food, they still had some of the dried fruits and nuts left, including some hard nuts they had found in a tree hollow. Sekai now had a choice, go out to get more supplies, or stay in the cave to watch over Max. _We'll need water at least; he's going to be thirsty when he wakes up. I'll just have to be quick about it._ Having found her resolve, Sekai grabbed both canteens and stood up.

She turned to the wolf, and spoke to him. "I'm going to be going out now, so please stay here." The wolf didn't seem to understand, it just stared at her. Sekai sighed. "Stay here. In the cave." She started walking, and the wolf followed her. Sekai turned around and started at him again. "I need you to stay in the cave. STAY. I will be back soon. Now please STAY HERE." She pointed to the ground for emphasis, and the wolf finally seemed to get the message.

Sekai left the cave and looked around the rocky landscape. She figured she wouldn't get any water here, so she headed back into the jungle, trying to memorize her path so she could find her way back.

She found a river with little hassle, and filled up both of her canteens. She turned around and headed back to the cave. On her way back, she managed to find a bush with some berries she found familiar, and climbed up a tree to liberate it of its fruit. Resupplied and feeling good about herself, Sekai made it back to the cave without incident.

As she approached the cave, the wolf pup came out and greeted her, yipping happily. She fed it a berry, and then walked into the cave. Everything was how she had left it. Max was still lying in the sleeping bag, fast asleep. She walked over and felt his forehead, but wasn't able to tell if he was getting better or not. She sat down and ate one of the fruits she had found, feeding some more berries to the wolf.

As she sat there in silence, occasionally petting the wolf pup, Sekai heard noise coming from Max. She turned and crawled over to him. The American was mumbling something in his sleep. Sekai decided not to eavesdrop and went to check on Max's clothes. She had put them out on some rocks to dry. When she reentered the cave with the now dry clothes, she saw Max awake and staring at her weakly.

"How are you doing?" She asked, walking over to him.

"Feel like crap." He responded, his voice scratchy from dehydration. "Can I have some water?"

Sekai handed him his canteen. He drank the water slowly, taking it in small sips. After a while, he stopped drinking, and Sekai handed him a fruit. He slowly ate it, drinking some more water as he did so. When he finished, he looked past Sekai. Sekai looked and saw that he was staring at the wolf pup, who was eyeing the American with suspicion.

"New friend of yours?" He asked her.

"You could say that. After we separated, I headed into the jungle, hoping to meet up with you again. I heard a cry and went to investigate, and saw this little pup and his mother being attacked by one of those boars. The mother was killed, but I managed to finish off the boar. Afterwards, I decided that I couldn't just leave him, so I brought him with me. We managed to find this cave, and holed up for the night. What about you? How did you find this place?"

"After I led the boars away, I finally managed to escape them. I circled back around to the clearing, and found you weren't there. Thinking you probably hadn't wanted to stay in the clearing, I continued heading in the direction we had been going in before. I emerged from the jungle to find this rocky landscape and started to seek shelter since it had started raining. I found this cave, and saw you and your buddy sleeping there, and stood guard. I must have passed out sometime around dawn."

Max started to get up, but Sekai gently pushed him back down gently.

"Rest for now. You're sick and things will get bad again if you over exert yourself. I got us food and water, so we should be fine for now. I'm going to go try to find some fire wood, so just rest." He must have been really tired, because no complaints followed, and soon Max was yet again asleep. Sekai picked up her bag and walked outside again, hoping she could find some dry wood to use and wishing they had an axe.

Eventually she managed to find enough wood that she thought would be suitable and reentered the cave. She created a makeshift pit out of rocks and placed in the wood. She waited to light it though; they wouldn't really need it until the night. Sekai spent the rest of the day checking on all of their stuff, watching Max, and petting the wolf. She found herself talking to him, finding it a good release of stress.

Max woke up again around sunset, and they all ate. Max finished off most of his water, but by then it was too late for Sekai to risk going out to get more. The night wore on, and soon Sekai found herself drifting off.

When Sekai woke up in the morning, she saw Max walking into the cave. He took Sekai's backpack off of his shoulder and emptied out the food he had just gathered. They ate in silence, Sekai occasionally feeding some berries to the wolf pup. Max was the first to break the silence

"Thank you for taking care of me the other day."

"It wasn't a problem. You've been helping me survive on the island the whole time. Think of it as an expression of my gratitude."

They continued to eat quietly for a minute, and then Max spoke up again.

"So, I've been wondering something."

"Wondering what?"

"When I got to the cave I was wearing my other set of clothes, and I don't remember changing. Do you know when or how I got into these clothes?"

Sekai turned away from Max as she felt her face turn bright red. She stammered out a response. "I, uh, took off your clothes since they were wet and I didn't think it was a good idea for you to stay in those wet clothes."

"It's no problem, I was just curious. Thank you for doing so." A mischievous smile appeared on his face. "So, did you like what you saw?"

Somehow Sekai managed to turn even redder; Max was worried she would have heatstroke with how red she was turning.

"Baka!" she yelled. Max just stared at her with a confused look, not understanding what she had just said. Sekai didn't feel like enlightening him at the moment though. They sat there for another minute in silence, and then Max spoke up again.

"So, does the wolf have a name?"

"No, I've been so busy it didn't occur to me." replied Sekai. "I guess we can't just call him Hey You or Wolf. Any ideas?"

Max sat there thinking for a few minutes, then spoke up.

"How about Clifford?"

"Clifford? That doesn't sound too bad, but why Clifford? Does he remind you of someone you know?"

"No, because he isn't a big red dog." He replied, chuckling at his own joke. Sekai didn't get it, but had no problem with the name. She turned to the wolf.

"What do you think Clifford?" he just looked at her, oblivious to her attempt to give him a name. She just sighed. If they called out the name enough maybe he'd realize they were talking about him and start responding.

The three finished eating and packed up. They walked out of the cave and didn't look back as they walked through the rocky terrain. They spent most of the day walking trekking across the rocky terrain, going slowly so as not to accidentally injure themselves. Clifford walked next to Sekai, hopping around to keep up.

As the afternoon sun beat down on them, they stopped briefly to take a break. Out of the corner of her eye Sekai saw movement to her right. She turned and saw a monster hurtling towards them. It was a large shape covered in dark brown fur. The monster looked to stand more than three meters in height, towering over even Max. Drool dripped out of its large maw. To Sekai it resembled a bear but was thinner with longer legs and arms. The ends of its paws had long, dangerous looking claws.

"Over there!" yelled Sekai, pointing towards the bear. Max and Clifford both turned to look at the bear. Both of them settled into fighting stances, Clifford baring his fangs, Max drawing his knife. Sekai stood between the two, and tried to copy Max's stance, drawing her knife as well. She eyed the landscape, trying to find a way out without having to have to fight, and saw a second bear come out from behind a nearby cropping of rocks, flanking them.

"There's a second one behind us." said Sekai, eyeing the beast. Max grunted his acknowledgement, not looking away from the first foe. Clifford started growling, then his ears pricked up and he let out a high pitched howl. The bears slowed in their approach, eyeing their prey. The one in front of Sekai had scratches along its nose, probably an old injury. "Any ideas?"

"Nothing besides killing the threat. We've been walking all day across this rocky landscape, so we're more tired than usual. Plus this is their home terrain from the looks of things; I don't like our chances of running from two of these beasts." The American gritted his teeth, preparing to strike out as soon as one of the bears got within his attack range.

Suddenly, a howl rang out from past the bears, and from the outcropping that the second bear had emerged came four large wolves. They tore at the beast, focusing their attacks mostly on its nose and drawing blood. The bear roared in anger and tried to strike back, just missing one of the wolves. A fifth wolf jumped down onto the bear's back from the outcropping, biting at the monsters neck. This wolf had scars across its nose also, and seemed to be bigger than the others were. The bear knocked the wolf off of his back, but before he could strike at the fallen wolf, the other four stuck again.

Sekai tore her eyes away from the fight as she heard a growl from behind. Turning around she saw the remaining bear charge forward at them. Max ducked down and grabbed a stone, throwing it with his left hand. The stone smashed into the bear's nose, causing it to cry out. Before it could regain its bearings the American had had charged forward and shortened the distance between them. He struck out with his knife, driving it straight into the monster's chest. The bear flailed in pain, knocking Max away into an outcropping of rocks. He landed with a grunt and struggled to stand. The bear ignored him and with the knife still in it, turned to face Sekai and Clifford.

Clifford growled out his challenge to the massive beast, seemingly unafraid. The bear charged at the pup and knocked him away. The wolf tried to stand up, but fell down again, injured. The bear moved forward towards the fallen pup, ready to finish him off.

Sekai's body seemed to move on its own, forgoing any of the fear she felt. She jumped onto another pile of rocks and leaped onto the bears back, stabbing down with her knife. The blade caught in the bears shoulder, and stayed there due to all of the muscle. Sekai hung there, one arm gripping the beast's fur, the other holding onto the knife for dear life. _What am I doing up here?_ She wondered, trying to figure out her next move and to not be flung off.

Behind her, she heard something collapse, and looked over her shoulder to see that the wolves had taken out the bear, and were preparing to attack the last one. Max was struggling to his feet, shaken from his collision with the rocks. He looked up at her, and grabbed up another rock. Sekai ducked down behind the bear's back as much as she could as Max threw the rock, which slammed straight into the bears face. As it cried out, Clifford struck from below, biting at the bear's leg, surprising it. Sekai put her arm around the bear's neck, and pulled her knife out, almost losing her balance and falling. She wrapped her legs around the bear's chest, and reached up and plunged the knife into the back of the bear's skull.

The bear toppled over onto its back, and Sekai's head slammed into the ground, and as she was crushed and the world went black, she found herself thinking, _not again_. Then she thought no more.


	7. Chapter 7: Silence of the Lambs

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**A/N**: I would also like to thank Blindseer0 for beta reading all of the chapters in this story. He gets to read the painful versions.

**Trigger Warning: There will be attempted rape within the first few paragraphs.**

**Please read and review.**

**Chapter 7: Silence of the Lambs**

Sekai woke up to a reality worse than the one she had fallen asleep to. She was clothed in only her bra and underwear. Her clothes lay in a heap next to her backpack near the entrance of the cave. She would have gotten up and dressed except that straddling her was Max Samson. He was smiling down at her, but it wasn't a friendly expression like she was used to. This smile was full of malice and madness.

"Oh good, you're awake. This wouldn't be any fun if you were unconscious. I was getting impatient waiting though, so I was just about to get started. You ready for a fun time?" He asked her, still smiling that menacing smile.

"What?" asked Sekai lamely. He head was still pounding from impacting the ground and her brain was having trouble making sense what was happening.

"It's been more than a month and I'm getting pretty stressed out here. I thought I'd wait, but seeing you naked as I checked for a wound has gotten me pretty excited." Sekai realized that Max was only wearing his shirt and boxers, his pants missing. Panic started to fill her as she realized what he was saying.

"What are you doing?" she asked again. Max sighed. Sekai felt a sting on her cheek and it took her a second to realize he had slapped her.

"Keep quiet," he snapped. "If you try to resist, this will hurt even more." Max then reached behind her and unhooked her bra. "If you don't resist then everything should be fine. I've had plenty of practice, nine times to be exact." He gave a hollow laugh.

"Nine times?" Sekai was still having trouble processing everything. She found herself only able to hang onto his most recent comments. "Why are you doing this? Aren't I your friend?"

"Friend? Never. You're just a silly little girl who decided to trust a stranger." He threw the bra into the pile with the rest of her clothes. "A silly little Japanese school girl who didn't realize she was traveling with a suspected rapist and murderer."

"You're lying…"

"Nope. You seem to be having trouble grasping this, want me to introduce myself again? I am Max Samson, age 19, and wanted by the Federal Government of the United States of America for supposedly raping and killing nine women, fleeing arrest, black mailing a lawyer and attorney, being absent without leave from the Marines, the assault and battery of three men, and the attempted rape of another woman. Oh, and for the murder of my father. I don't think I'm missing any charges, there are so many against me I sometimes lose track."

Sekai was too stunned to comment. Max seemed to be in a talkative mood though, so he continued right along.

"What? Not even going to fight back? That's no fun." He lowered his head to her neck and licked it, jolting Sekai. His right hand touched her hip and started to travel up to her breast.

"NO!" yelled Sekai, kneeing Max between his legs. He let out a yelp and fell off of her. Sekai rolled over and tried to crawl away. Max reached out for her, but she lashed out with a kick to his chest. He let out a groan. Sekai didn't bother to look back as she picked up her stuff and ran almost naked out of the cave. A part of her recognized it as the cave they had stayed in the other night. The cave she had nursed Max back to health in. She ran bare foot across the rocky terrain, and into the jungle.

Sekai ran and ran, not bothering to look back. She ran until her feet hurt and her breathing came out irregular and ragged. Finally she stopped running and looked around. Max was nowhere to be seen. The only thing she saw was trees. The girl sat down under a tree, trying to rest and catch her breath. Her brain buzzed with the recent events. Max, a murderer? Impossible. Or at least in a sane world it should be, but ever since the plane had crashed insanity had seemed to rule. Sekai couldn't stop shaking and every time she thought back on Max, the shaking would increase. Where before his smiling face inspired hope, now there was only fear. Tears started to pour down her face as despair started to engulf her.

Sekai was saved from further speculation on this dark turn in her life by a muffled bark. She looked down at her backpack as she felt something moving in it. She out the backpack on the ground and opened it. From inside the bag was a pair of amber eyes staring right at her.

"Clifford!" she exclaimed, lifting him out of the bag and hugging him to her bare chest. Tears dropped from her face onto his fur. He gave another bark, and licked her face, happy to see her. Sekai lowered him gently to the ground. She felt brief shame at not remembering about the pup in her panic before, but it was quickly overridden by relief that he was unharmed and with her. The tears stopped and she wiped them away with her arm.

A gust of wind blew past her, causing her to shiver. She remembered that she was still naked and started to dress. When she was fully clothed, she finally took a good look around her surroundings. The only thing around was trees. The sky was lit by an orange glow as the sun set for the day_. I guess I woke up near the end of the day, I wonder how long I was out?_

Sekai bent down and checked the supplies in her bag. Everything was still there, she had food, a canteen full of water and all of her other knickknacks. The greatest find was at the bottom of the bag where she found the knife, her knife, the knife Max had given to her on their first day on the island. _I guess I should count my blessings on such a bad day._ She thought to herself_. Night will be here soon, I need to figure out where we're going to camp._ It would be the second time she had been away from Max but her chance of finding a cave seemed small. Staying on the ground with just her and Clifford could also be a problem with nocturnal predators. Sekai looked up at the tree she was standing next to when she had an idea. She packed up her stuff and looked at Clifford.

"I need you to stay still in here." She said, pointing to her bag. He cocked his head in confusion, not understanding her words. The girl sighed, and carefully reached over and lifted him up and deposited him in the bag. She zipped it up, leaving a small patch at the top open so he could breathe. Sekai faced the tree, took a deep breath and started to climb.

A yip of displeasure came from the pup in her bag. As Sekai climbed she hummed, trying to calm her nerves and the nerves of her passenger. Soon she was several meters off the ground and found several large sturdy branches that were near each other, creating a type of platform. She unzipped the bag carefully and showed the wolf where they were.

"Stay still, we will be staying up here tonight and we need to be careful not to fall." He stared at her with those amber eyes and stopped fidgeting, seeming to understand her somewhat. While she had been climbing the night had come and surrounded them in darkness. Stars appeared one by one in the part of the night sky that wasn't blocked by tree branches. Sekai was mesmerized by the sight. Every night she had spent with Max she had never thought to look up at the sky. They had either been tired from walking and quickly setting up camp, watching for enemies, or in a cave.

Sekai looked down and saw Clifford resting inside her bag. She settled into a position that should stop her from falling in the middle of the night, and soon fell into fitful sleep. Max, smiling that menacing smile, chased her through her dreams. She was about to be caught by him when she was woken up by voices.

'Hey Yuuki, slow down! You're going too fast, we can't keep up,' yelled out a female voice from below Sekai. The voice had a musical quality to it.

'Fine, we'll take a quick break then continue, that okay?' replied a male voice impatiently.

'Thank you,' said the first voice. 'How are you doing Ayumi-chan?'

'Fine…' came a second female voice, this one timid and soft. 'Thank you...'

Sekai carefully looked down and saw four people resting below at the base of the tree. Two of them wore the female uniforms from her school and another wore the male uniform. The fourth person looked to be a woman wearing a t-shirt and jeans. She was leaning against a tree as if relaxing, but her posture had an alertness to it that reminded her of Max. This observation was accompanied by a quick shiver at fear at the reminder of the American. As Sekai thought about if she should make her presence known, she lost her grip on her bag. A quick cry escaped her lips. The bag started to fall but Sekai managed to grab it and its still sleeping occupant before it could get out of reach. She was partially hanging off the makeshift platform, holding on to a branch to steady herself with her other arm.

The people below had noticed the sound and were looking around. The smallest of the four, one of the girls in uniform who was sitting down looked up straight at Sekai. Surprise filled the small girl's eyes as she realized that there was a person above them.

'Miho-san. Above us is a person,' said the girl. Everyone looked up at Sekai in surprise. Sekai smiled down at them. If her hands hadn't been busy she would have waved.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked them. The four looked at her in confusion and curiosity. Sekai realized she had spoken in Enlgish, she switched over to Japanese. 'How's it going down there? Mind if I join you?'

'Not at all, need some help?' asked the first girl who had spoken up before. Sekai finally recognized her as Hayasaka Miho from class 3-1. She realized that the boy next to her was her older brother Hayasaka Yuuki from class 3-3. Sekai remembered there were some bad rumors about him. He was supposed to be in the grade ahead of them but had been held back due to getting into fights. She also remembered that the little girl who had noticed her was Tohya Ayumi, also from class 3-3.

'No thanks, I've got it.' Sekai hitched her bag over her shoulders and started to slowly climb down. As she climbed she ignored everything else, focusing only on getting down safely. Within a few minutes she was on the ground and surrounded by the four surprised people.

'Wow! I can't believe you climbed up there and back!' exclaimed Miho.

'Have you been here on the island on your own this whole time?' asked the woman, stepping forward.

'Uh, not quite.' replied Sekai. She had a brief flash of Max's smiling face in her mind and involuntarily shuddered. Her new companions didn't seem to notice or at least didn't comment. Miho turned to face the woman.

'That's not how to start a conversation Yamada-san! We need to introduce ourselves first.' Miho turned and looked at Sekai. 'You're Nanasawa Sekai from class 3-4, right?'

'Yes, I am.' replied Sekai, surprised that Miho remembered her name. Sekai had never talked to her before and assumed the girl hadn't noticed her. Sekai knew Miho though, partly because of her infamous brother, but also because she was known for walking around the school singing. She was good at it too, unlike Sekai and her tuneless attempts made recently on the island.

'I'm glad to see that you're safe and sound.' and she really did sound glad. Miho gestured to the members of her group starting with herself. 'I'm Hayasaka Miho; this is my brother Hayasaka Yuuki.' She then pointed from Yuuki to Ayumi. 'This is Tohya Ayumi, also from our class.' Miho pointed to the woman. 'This is Yamada Erika; she's an American tourist that was headed to Japan.'

'Nice to meet you Nanasawa-san.' said Erika with a nod of her head. Sekai wondered at her formality but just chalked it up to a foreigners caution when dealing with new social rules. 'So, have you been on your own this whole time?' she asked again. Sekai's mind raced as she thought about how to answer. Erika spoke again. 'You said not quite? What's 'not quite' mean?'

Before Sekai could answer a growl came from her bag. She unzipped it and two amber eyes shined out from the bag. Her new companions recoiled in fear and surprise. Yuuki stepped in front of Miho and looked ready to fight what he thought was a threat. Erika stepped in front of Ayumi, making it clear she wanted to protect the girl.

'There's nothing to worry about' said Sekai, trying to reassure them before something bad occurred. 'This is just Clifford; he's been my companion on this island since I saved him from a giant boar monster.' She put the bag of the ground and lifted up the wolf pup to show them. 'Clifford, these are our friends. There is nothing to worry about.' He seemed confused by her words. Sekai wondered if this was because she had been speaking in English the whole time before and her words now didn't seem to match the tone of her voice when she had said the same thing just a few days before. He started to growl menacingly at them. Sekai lifted him up so that her mouth was to his ear and whispered.

"There's nothing to worry about. They won't hurt us. They are our friends." The pup seemed to get the idea and stopped growling but still stared at their new companions warily. Erika had a neutral look on her face as she accessed the situation. Yuuki looked like he still wasn't sure that the pup wasn't a threat. Ayumi had a look of complete wonder on her face. A squeal broke out as Miho rushed forward.

'He's so cute! Is it ok for me to hold him?' she looked at Sekai with eager eyes. Clifford stared at the strange girl and growled softly.

'Uh, that's probably not a good idea. He's not really used to humans yet. He might bite you or something if you attempt it, sorry.'

'No problem, I understand.' Miho backed off but was still smiling at the wolf. Silence filled the clearing for a few minutes as everyone just stared and got their bearings on their new companions. Erika was the first to break the stalemate.

'So Nanasawa-san, it's just been you and Clifford? No other humans?'

'Yes,' Sekai lied. She decided she needed a cover story to get this woman to stop questioning her. 'On the night of the crash I was attacked by one of my classmates but managed to flee the plane. After that I avoided other people as much as I could. I even speak English to Clifford to avoid any eavesdropping.'

"You're fluent in English?" asked the woman in unaccented English that reminded Sekai of Max. _Is every little thing going to remind me of him? I need to just forget about him,_ thought Sekai, mentally shaking herself to clear her thoughts.

"Yes I am. I've always enjoyed American movies and I'm training to become a Hollywood actress. Plus, I just enjoy speaking the language."

'I'm glad to see kids who are interested in learning about other cultures besides their native one.'

Sekai mentally breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed like the woman would stop questioning her now. She didn't plan to tell anyone about Max. Part of it was because there wasn't anything they could have done against him anyways. Mostly it was because she just didn't want to think about him. She just wanted to forget him and his kindness, and his madness.

Yuuki looked impatient, and spoke up.

'Ok, everyone ready to move out? I think we've had a long enough of a break.'

'What's your hurry?' asked Miho. 'It's not like we have a destination to head towards. We've just been wandering around and exploring the island. Why don't we just stop and stay in one place?'

'Because stopping would make us a target. If we spend too long in one place the animals will catch on that that's where we are and will start trying to eat us.' Miho didn't back down, but Sekai could see Ayumi shuddering at the thought. Sekai decided to try to defuse the situation.

'Hey, I haven't had breakfast yet, so would you guys like to join me before you head out? I don't think a little break could hurt. Plus it will give you energy to go longer.'

'Sounds like a good idea to me.' said Miho cheerfully

'No it isn't. Did you forget? We're out of food and almost out of water. We need to find a source soon.' snapped Yuuki.

'You don't have any food or water?' Sekai bent down and grabbed some of the fruit from her bag. 'Here you go, though no guarantees that it doesn't smell like wolf.' She passed some fruit to all of her surprised companions. Sekai fed some berries to Clifford then sat down and ate an apple like fruit that tasted like a banana. Her companions each had three pieces of fruit while Sekai ate two. Clifford finished off the rest of the berries. _Well, at least I still have the nuts for later. _ She rummaged through her bag and found to her surprise some things she had missed earlier. These included the bag of dried nuts and fruits and the second canteen. _Max must have consolidated all of the food into one bag_, she thought to herself. But it seemed weird. Before he had a policy of always making sure they both had almost equal shares of all the food and water. Their supplies were always split up so that if they were separated they would still be able to survive.

As she ate several other inconsistencies also started to nag at her. Everything she needed was in her bag already, including stuff that was usually not there. And now that she thought on it, why had Clifford been in there? Why had Max shoved him into the backpack instead of just killing him? Am I just grasping at straws? Do I just want to convince myself that there's something going on that I don't know about?

Why had he bothered to have her clothes in a pile by her backpack? Why had the bra purposely been thrown onto the neat pile when it would have made more sense to be discarded randomly around the cave?

It had also been too easy to escape. Would an experienced serial rapist and murderer, one that took on giant monsters with his bare hands, really let himself be taken down by a little school girl? Why hadn't he caught up to her? Something else nagged at her, something he had said. After a moment she realized what it was.

Sekai stood up suddenly causing everyone to look at her.

'I'll show you where a river is now, come on,' she said, turning and starting to walk away. Clifford padded next to her as the other four humans trailed behind. Sekai managed to find the river she had used to refill her and Max's canteens. As everyone drank and filled up their plastic bottles that they used to hold water, Sekai spoke.

'And now this is where I leave you.'

'Leave?' asked Miho, turning to look at her. 'Why don't you travel with us? You and Clifford will be safer in a group.' The girl looked sincerely concerned for Sekai's safety, but Sekai couldn't stay.

'Sorry, but I have something I need to do. I hope you all stay safe.' Without another word, Sekai scooped up Clifford in her arms and ran away. Not looking back to see if they were following she weaved through the trees, not making straight for the cave. After several maneuvers and backtracking, Sekai emerged from the jungle. Spread out before her were the now familiar rocks and crags. She walked towards the cave praying that its occupant was still there, and secretly hoping he wasn't. Max's face kept appearing in her mind causing her to shake violently. Clifford looked up at her from her arms and whined at her distress. Sekai hugged him to herself and continued moving forward. Soon she found herself back at the cave.

Sekai put Clifford down and took out the knife Max had given her from her bag. She held it at the ready and slowly moved towards the cave, watching for signs of trouble. Peaking around the edge of the cave she saw Max lying asleep at the back of the cave, shirt off. She quietly approached and saw that his torso looked to be one massive bruise. _That explains how I managed to fend him off. He must be in pain, no wonder he didn't chase after me._ Sekai crept up to him. No matter what happened this was a problem she had to solve before she could move forward.

It was obvious how injured and tired he was by how he didn't react as she approached him. _It's like he's resigned himself to dying, he's not even trying to protect himself anymore,_ Sekai thought to herself. She stopped a meter in front of him, Clifford right by her side. Lying discarded to one side of the cave was Max's second knife. Sekai picked it up and put it on her belt. Then she turned and faced the still sleeping man.

"Max Samson, wake up. I want to talk to you." she said, trying to put the ring of authority in her voice. His eyelids slowly fluttered open and his amber eyes focused on the girl in front of him. He tried and failed to hide his surprise at her arrival.

"You returned, I guess you really are that stupid." His voice caused shivers down her spine. And his insidious smile returned causing Sekai to almost break down in fear. Pushing back her panic, she responded as confidently as she could.

"Don't give me that bullshit. Not only do I have your knife, you're injured. With how badly you're hurt I don't think even you could take me on in that condition."

"Want to find out?"

"No. Neither do you, not really. This bluffing is just annoying me. Tell me what's really going on."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm wanted for several charges of rape and murder."

"You keep saying that, but I don't believe it."

"It doesn't matter if you believe it or not, but it's the truth."

"Maybe part of the truth, why don't you tell me the whole truth?"

"What makes you think there's more?" Sekai noticed that his face seemed to be hopeful.

"Because nothing is adding up, and I want to know why. I want to know about you and find out why you seem to not care if you die. What makes a serial rapist and murderer keep a middle school girl alive for over a month when on their first meeting he could have had his fun, kill her and move on? You didn't need me to survive on this island. You could have left me at any moment and probably done even better. So, tell me your story."

Max looked at her for a minute, then he released a sigh of relief.

"Very well then. Like it or not, believe or not, this is my story." He took a deep breath, and then continued. "Like I told you before, I'm from Los Angeles, California and 19 years old. Two years ago I graduated from High School. I spent a few months bumming around, trying out different jobs, experimenting on how I wanted to live my future. Eventually I decided to join the Marine Corp. I signed up and shipped out to San Diego for boot camp. I went though the 12 weeks of recruit training, followed by several more months of more advanced training. At the end of the training before deployment we received a few days relaxation time. I headed back home to show off to my father who I hadn't seen since I had left. He was a famous doctor at the local hospital. Always putting in extra hours and working himself to exhaustion to try to save all of his patients," Max paused, looking like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Sekai realized that she had all the food they had had, and since it looked like he hadn't moved, he had probably not eaten anything for at least half a day. She dug around in her bag and removed some of the nuts.

"Here, eat these." She tossed them over. As he started munching on them she dug the second canteen out of her bag and tossed that to him also. He deftly caught it and took small sips interspersed with nuts. Soon he was looking much better.

"Thanks." He said, giving her one of his kind smiles. Sekai couldn't help but flinch as she imagined it replaced my one of his malicious smiles. Max seemed to notice and stopped smiling. He continued.

"I thought to surprise him with my visit, show him how tough and disciplined I had become. That was a bad idea. I came home right as he finished raping and killing a girl. I flew into a rage, questioning him about what he had done and why. He just laughed, calmly dressing and started recounting in detail how he had already done it eight times before. Detail after detail, even now I can imagine each event as if I had been there, doing each assault myself. We fought and I won. He ended up dead on the floor before I had realized what had happened." Max paused and looked down at his lap. Sekai saw tears start dripping down onto the cave floor. The urge to comfort him struck her but she resisted it. She needed to hear the story out completely before making any decisions.

"Are you ready to continue?" she asked in the most dispassionate voice she could manage. Max looked up at her, his eyes red and watery. He really had been crying, not fake tears but real ones. Sekai wondered at what he had been crying about, the death of his father, or something else entirely. The American wiped away the tears and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Luck wasn't on my side. Cole Jackson and Mark Golden, two of my father's closet friends arrived to see me kill my father. They hadn't heard the conversation and assumed I was the criminal. Nothing I said could convince them. So I gave up on convincing them and instead threatened them. Cole is an attorney and executor of my father's will. I had him redo the will so that if my father died, all of his money and assets would be donated to the local hospital. Mark is the accountant that manages the family funds. He had made some good investments on my father's behalf, giving us quite a fortune. I made sure through him that all of the money went to the hospital, except for a few hundred dollars, which I kept for myself for my needs. Then, after everything was in order, I tied them up, made a call to the police and ran for it. Soon after I managed to sneak on board a flight to Guam, hiding out there for a while. I hopped on the plane to Japan in case I was tracked down. I needed to keep moving to not be caught. Then, the plane crashed on this island and well, you know the rest." he finished, staring straight into her eyes. Sekai maintained eye contact with him, not willing to be the one to break away.

"No, I don't know the rest." She replied, staring into his amber eyes. "Why did you keep running, why not tell the police. By running you probably made things worse. If you gave them your story then wouldn't they realize by matching the forensics that you were telling the truth?"

"The truth? No one would have believed me. There were two witnesses against me. Mostly, I was scared. Scared no one would believe me. I didn't have the courage to face that possibility."

Sekai realized that all along he hadn't been expecting her to believe his story. He had achieved his heartfelt wish when she had asked for his side of the story. Max was like a child who had gotten in trouble. He just wanted someone to listen to his side of the story.

"Why did you save me on the plane?"

"To prove I wasn't powerless. I failed the nine women my father killed. It was happening again in front of me and I swore I would stop it this time." He looked down at the floor briefly then stared back at her, hope in his eyes. "Do you believe me?"

Sekai took a deep breath. That was a good question. Did she believe him? It was all just so strange. He had attacked her earlier, and now he was asking if she believed him. She stood there thinking for a minute, staring at the man in front of her.

"Yes, I do." She realized that she actually did. Max's face lit up in pure, unrestrained joy. Sekai wasn't done questioning him though. "Why did you attack me earlier?"

Max's expression turned to a mixture of embarrassment and sadness.

"Because I'm dangerous. After the bear fell on top of you I ran over to try to help. I managed to get you out from under it, but you were unconscious. I carried you back to this cave and stripped off your clothes to see if you were injured. Luckily you weren't, but I realized something when I was done. I felt nothing. No embarrassment, only relief that you weren't injured. It was like disassembling a gun to prepare for a mission. I didn't view you as a person, but an item, a piece of equipment. You were the key to my salvation. If I could protect you, then I could be absolved of my sins." Max looked ashamed and defeated. "I needed to get you away from me, so I decided to show you how dangerous I could really be, scare you away."

Sekai realized at that moment that Max Samson wasn't completely sane. There was something wrong with him. He was a strange mix of childish innocence and adult jadedness. She also realized that he had hurt her because he had honestly believed it would help her. A shiver ran down her spine again. Max stared at her, awaiting a verdict. She needed to make a decision. Sekai out away her knife in its sheath and walked forward.

"You baka!" Max's head snapped around as Sekai's slap impacted it. He didn't even react. He was probably thinking he deserved it. That thought made Sekai even angrier. "You should have told me all of this and let me make my own decision! Were you afraid I would run after hearing your story so you just wanted to get it over with? I never thought you would be such a coward! You've saved my life many times on this island. If it wasn't for you I would be dead. I thought we were companions, friends."

Tears started to pour down her eyes. Max's expression became pained as he observed her stress. He slowly reached out a hand to her cheek, which she slapped away.

"Nanasawa…"

"You really didn't care about surviving this whole time, did you?"

"No…"

"You idiot! Why would you try to throw away your own life! You're just running! You can stand in front of a herd of giant man-eating boars and not flinch! You've fought bears! Stop running from your problems and face them." Sekai stared straight into his eyes and softened her expression a bit. "If you want help, all you need is to go and ask for it."

Max just stared at her for a few minutes. Then, a smile broke across his face. A smile of genuine joy and for a minute Sekai was able to forget his malicious smile from before.

"Ok then. Nanasawa, would you be willing to work with me to survive on this island so that I can escape and turn myself into the police for justice and a chance to clear my name?"

"Yes, I would." Sekai held out her hand to him. Max took it and shook.

"Can I ask you another question?" he asked with a sheepish look on his face.

"What?"

"Would you be willing to be my friend?" his eyes were earnest and full of hope. "I really need one." Sekai felt bad but memories of the day before returned.

"No." a pained look spread across his face. Sekai squashed any feelings of guilt. "You hurt me, and I can't forget that right now. I'm willing to be your companion and give you a second chance. If you want me to be your friend then you'll need to show me with your actions."

His face lit up again. "Deal." he said, smiling.

Before anything else could be said between them, Sekai heard a shuffling sound behind her. Max reacted by looking in surprise at whatever was behind her. Sekai turned around and saw Ayumi standing behind.

'Tohya-san, what are you doing here?' she asked, making sure to speak in Japanese. How much had she heard? Had she been listening in the whole time and they hadn't noticed? And where were the other three members of Ayumi's group?

'Miho-san convinced Erika-san and Hayasaka-kun to chase after you.' she was staring past Sekai at Max and looked like she was going to die of fright. 'I heard noise from this cave and just saw you standing there. That was right before you noticed me.'

"Nanasawa, what's going on? Who is this girl? What's she saying?" asked Max, confused. Sekai remembered that he couldn't speak Japanese and couldn't understand the conversation.

"This is Tohya Ayumi, she's a classmate of mine. When I was separated from you yesterday I met her and three others." Sekai then turned to Ayumi. As she was about to ask where the others were, a voice yelled out.

'Ayumi-chan!' Miho ran up to the cave entrance and peered in. 'Did you find something?' She then noticed Sekai and Max. A look of surprise appeared on her face. 'Yuuki! Yamada-san! Over here! I found Nanasawa-san and an injured foreigner!'

The two came running up to the cave entrance and looked inside in wonder at its occupants. Sekai stood there for a moment trying to figure out what to say. Surprisingly, Max was the first to speak.

"Kon'nichiwa, watashi Ken Sugiyama." Sekai just stood there stunned for a second after hearing his very badly worded and accented Japanese. Everyone else seemed confused or surprised also. Sekai decided that that would be the best moment to speak up.

'This is Ken Sugiyama, a tourist from America. He was visiting relatives in Japan after stopping over in Guam. He doesn't really know any Japanese as you can see.' Sekai thought they were going to buy the cover story for a moment, but then something unexpected happened. Erika moved forward to stand in front of her three companions, and pulled out a gun, aiming it directly at Max.

"I am Erika Phelps, United States of America Air Marshall. Max Samson you are under arrest for charges of rape, murder and evading arrest. If you move so much as a muscle I will kill you."

**A/N**: Even down here you can't escape all of my author notes. This has been the longest chapter so far by a mile; I hope you all enjoyed it. I felt at this time to mention several musical inspirations that aided in the writing of this chapter. These include Muse's "Madness", "Criminal" by Disturbed (This is what I see as Max's theme song), "Monster" by Skillet (an alternative theme song for him) and "Monster" by Dev (Sekai's theme song, seeing a pattern?). Oh, and lots of Dido. Thank you to everyone who has read the story up to this point and especially to those who have left a review. Did anyone catch the reference last chapter to several characters from the Manga? And next chapter I plan to introduce yet another character from the Manga. Hope everyone is looking forward to it.


	8. Chapter 8: The Magnificent Seven

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note**: Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**A/N: **I apologize for the large delay in posting a new chapter. I was working on a different story for NaNoWriMo, but got about 20,000 words in before school picked up and I got too busy to do much writing on anything. This chapter picks up right where the other one left off. Hope everyone enjoys and feels this was worth the wait.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 8: The Magnificent Seven**

"I am Erika Phelps, United States of America Air Marshall. Max Samson you are under arrest for charges of rape, murder, and evading arrest. If you move so much as a muscle I will kill you."

With this sentence, the world seemed to stop for Sekai as she watched in horror as Erika pointed a gun directly at Max. Max looked directly at Erika, the pain of his wounds evident on his face. They all stood there in stunned silence for a minute until an angry Yuuki broke it.

'What the hell is going on?!' he yelled, not having understood Erika's English. 'Where the hell did you get that gun from?'

Erika didn't even look at him when she responded.

'Stay back, this man is a dangerous criminal from the United States. I'm the Air Marshall that was assigned to your flight which is why I have this gun. Now be quiet while I deal with him.' Her gaze never left Max, a finger floating just out of the trigger guard, but ready to fire at a moments notice.

Sekai's mind raced as she tried to figure out how she should respond. Max was too injured to even move, let alone deal with someone with a gun. She then remembered the knives at her waist and wondered if she should attempt to attack Erika, but one look at the gun and she threw that plan out the window. They wouldd need to talk their way out of this one.

"So, are you going to surrender quietly or do I need to shoot?" asked Erika, her voice even.

Sekai glanced at Max and saw him just looking forward, not looking in the mood to be the one to talk first. She decided that now would be the time to speak up before things got worse.

"Erika, could you put the gun down and we'll talk about this calmly and peacefully," pleaded Sekai.

"I don't think you understand me Sekai. This man is a dangerous criminal. The crimes he's committed are the acts of a monster."

Sekai walked forward and placed herself between Max and the gun. She felt a shiver go down her spine as she stood in front of the gun, but stood tall no the less. Everyone else just looked at her surprised.

"I think you're the one confused. I know exactly what he's done. He has raped nine women, killed his own father, tied up two people and fled from the police."

Erika stared at Sekai in surprise, her weapon still aimed at them.

"You knew? And yet you've been traveling with him this whole time?"

Sekai didn't care about his past. He had saved her life, and for that, she would give him the benefit of the doubt. However, he had also hurt her deeply and she wondered if she should be standing up for him like this. _No_, she thought, _I promised to give him another chance to prove himself. I can't do so if he's killed._

"I knew because he told me. Max saved my life on the first night when a classmate tried to rape me. He's taught me how to survive and fight. He's risked his life several times to save mine. I don't care what he did before I met him, only what he's done since."

Erika stared at her, stunned by this declaration. Ayumi moved forward slightly, peeking around the Air Marshal as if to get a better look at Sekai. Miho looked impressed while Yuuki just looked confused.

'What's going on? What'd she just say?' he asked Miho, not really expecting an answer. She looked at him and responded.

'I didn't understand all the words, but it seems she knew that man is a criminal and is standing up for him.' her voice held admiration for her classmate who was holding her ground in front of someone with a gun. Yuuki just looked at his sister surprised.

'Wait, you can understand what they are saying?'

'Most of it; I'm more used to hearing English being sung in songs than actual conversation.' Miho then spoke up again. 'Phelps-san, can you put the gun down so we can talk about this peacefully. There might be a misunderstanding going on.'

'Erika-san, please listen to them.' Ayumi's voice was soft when she said this, but something about her voice caused it to carry throughout the cave. After a moment, Sekai saw Erika relax, and watched as she finally, and reluctantly, lowered the gun.

'Fine. I guess we can talk. But any suspicious movements and he won't last long.' She looked past Sekai at Max. "I'll give you a chance to convince me why I shouldn't just kill you now, but if you do anything I don't like, I'll kill you."

"Noted." Deadpanned Max, his voice pained.

Sekai stared at Erika, and seeing that she didn't look like shooting at the moment, spoke up.

'Phelps-san, may I inspect his wounds? He was injured protecting me from a bear a few days ago and I haven't had time to minister to them.'

Erikia just grunted an affirmative, the gun still in hand and her eyes never leaving Max. Sekai turned around and started to inspect Max's wounds. She didn't really know what she could do to help him, but felt she needed to at least do something. Every time her hand brushed his skin she had to resist the urge to shiver. During the inspection flashes of the day before kept coming back to her, threatening to reduce her to tears. Max seemed to sense her distress.

"If its troublesome then you don't have to do this, I can take care of my own wounds." He tried to sit up, but Sekai gently held him down, trying not to wince.

"If you could have done so, you would have earlier. Just let me help, moving hurts, right? It'll be easier if I do so anyways." Max didn't say a word but obeyed her order.

Clifford sat watching Sekai, forgotten in the confusion, but staying by his companions side anyways. When she needed him, he would be there, ever watchful and faithful.

* * *

Ayumi, Yuuki and Miho just watched the whole thing in fascination. Yuuki felt completely lost in the unfamiliar situation and not being able to understand half of what was being said. He just stared at his sister, he had never realized that she knew English or listened to English songs. As the stalemate had stretched on, he had found himself more and more lost. Yuuki hated being powerless, how could he be expected to protect Miho if he didn't know what was going on? He turned to the two girls.

'What's going on? Do you know what they're saying?' He expected Miho to answer, but was surprised when Ayumi was the one to speak up.

'Sekai is caring for the man, since he's injured.' She said, as soft as ever.

Yuuki was surprised; he had never heard her talk this much before. They had both been in class 3-3 and he didn't think she had ever uttered a word. Even when traveling together for the past few weeks she had never really said more than a word or two at a time, and only when someone had directly asked her a question.

'You understand what they're saying?' he asked.

'I read American comics,' she answered simply, looking away from him to back to Sekai and her patient. He thought her face had become slightly red when she had spoken, but she had turned away too soon for him to be sure.

Yuuki just stood there for a second and thought to himself. _You have to be kidding me. Am I the only one who doesn't understand a word of English? _He heard a gasping coming from both Miho and Ayumi. He turned to see what they were looking at and saw that Sekai had taken off Max's shirt and was taking off his pants.

'Sekai-san! What are you doing! That's indecent!' yelled Miho, turning red in embarrassment.

Sekai didn't even turn away from her work as she answered.

'I need to get these off to see all the wounds. Do any of you happen to have any medical supplies? I don't have any on me and that'll limit what I can really do. At this point all I can do is see what's injured and clean the cuts with water.'

Looking at her, Yuuki thought that he saw her shaking a bit. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere except undressing the man in front of her. He idly wondered why she was going to such lengths for a criminal.

_Well, why do I risk my life for Miho's?_ He wondered to himself. He guessed that it was because she was his little sister and was defenseless without him. But Yuuki could see that this man was not defenseless. Yuuki had fought many of people, but this man had dangerous written all over him. He might be injured right now, but when he was better he'd cause trouble, Yuuki was sure of it.

While he had been busy thinking, Miho had riffled through her backpack and taken out their first aid kit. The kit itself was a large green bag with a white cross on its side. She walked forward and handed it to Sekai.

'Here you go. This should help. I keep it on me at all times in case Yuuki gets in a fight.'

'Thanks.' said Sekai, taking the kit and opening it up. Inside Yuuki knew were bandages of varying sizes, gauze, a pocket mask, antiseptic wipes, gloves, goggles, a surgical mask, a variety of medications, and several other items. There were even several packets of mustard from McDonalds, which were good for burns, as he had found out the hard way one night lighting a candle during a blackout.

Sekai stared at the contents of the bag in awe for a second, looking overwhelmed by the amount and variety of items. Miho seemed to catch onto her hesitation, and stepped in to help.

'How about I give you a hand?' she offered. 'I've taken several courses on first aid. Plus I've had to patch my brother up several times.'

Sekai seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, but Yuuki could see relief on her face. 'Sure,' she then turned to face the American man and said several sentences quickly in English. Yuuki didn't even manage to understand a single word of it.

Frustrated, he turned around as the two girls started to work on their patient. He was more than displeased with the situation. _We should just leave him and move on, we don't need any dead weight_, he thought to himself. Yuuki didn't like his sister touching an almost naked man, and a dangerous criminal at that, but nothing he said would stop her when she was like this. He had been in plenty of fights and she had always went and cared to both parties. It just wasn't in her nature to leave others alone.

Behind him he saw Erika looking on with displeasure at the situation. He was tempted to question her about hiding the gun, but decided for once to wait. He didn't want her firing that thing in her where she could hit Miho. Maybe he'd find a way to get her outside and away before questioning her, but before he could think of anything, she turned around and walked out of the cave.

'Where are you going?' he asked her. She paused, but didn't look back when she answered.

'Out, but I will be back soon.' Yuuki thought it sounded like a threat; one he suspected was aimed at the injured man.

Erika continued walking, and after a moment of indecision, Ayumi looked at Yuuki, worry on her face, and then followed the Air Marshall. Yuuki considered briefly following after them, but decided he'd rather not leave Miho here with people he didn't know. He wasn't sure yet he could trust Sekai, but he knew for certain he'd never trust the criminal with his sister. _Never will I leave them alone together, who knows what he'd do to her? _And with these thoughts Yuuki turned back to watch over his sister.

* * *

Erika Phelps hurried out of the cave and kept walking, trying to get her thoughts in some form of order. She had never expected to have to deal with a situation like this. Here was a dangerous criminal right before her, but what could she do? Arrest really wouldn't work. She didn't have a way off the island yet, so it's not like she could send him to jail. Keeping him around would just put everyone in danger, but the only sure way to make sure he wasn't a threat would be to kill him.

_Then why didn't I just shoot him? It's not like he could fight back right now,_ she thought. _Though, that's probably part of the reason. I'd be shooting a defenseless man in front of a bunch of children. Even if he's a dangerous criminal, they'd still see it as wrong._

Erika let out a sigh. "Father, what am I doing? I just left the kids alone with him, what if something happens?" she wondered aloud. While she had been a US Air Marshall for several years, she had never actually needed to kill anyone. She could use the gun well and had killed one of the monsters on the island during the first night, but humans were another matter. As she continued walking, lost deep in thought, a voice caught her attention.

'Erika-San, wait up,' came the soft voice of Ayumi. Erika stopped and turned around to see the girl, winded, rushing towards her. She stopped in front of the Air Marshall and tried to catch her breath. The girl wasn't very athletic and her stride was much shorter than Erika's. 'Where are you going?'

'I don't know,' she admitted to the girl. On the first night on the island, Ayumi had saved Erika's life, and had since kept her sane. The girl was soft spoken and had confidence issues, but something about her calmed Erika down_. I will protect her; she is my light in this darkness,_ she thought to herself, never realizing that she was mirroring the sentiments of the same man she was considering killing.

'Come back. I know Nanasawa-San is a good person, and I feel her companion isn't a bad man,' pleaded Ayumi.

While they had traveled together before meeting up with the Hayasaka siblings, Ayumi had talked in detail about all of her classmates. While they might not have taken notice of her, she definitely had taken notice of them. Erika understood that Ayumi was shy, not anti-social. She just needed to be used to someone before she started talking.

Erika also understood that Ayumi needed companionship. On this island, the only reason she had kept her composure for the most part had been because she had been with others with self confidence. Erika sighed again before replying.

'I'll be honest, I trust you when you say Sekai-San isn't a bad person, but after reading Samson's file, I have a hard time trusting someone like that. You don't even know the half of what he's done. While I've heard suspicions that he isn't the real culprit of the rapes, he has clearly been cited as the culprit for several assault and battery cases. In addition, he's running from the law and AWOL from the military. One way or another, he's dangerous,' said Erika, venting aloud, her voice rising in frustration. Ayumi just stared at her quietly for a minute before responding.

'So is this island,' Erkia had never seen such a serious look on her face before, but Ayumi looked like she wasn't planning to budge. She felt a swell of pride in the girl for standing her ground, but still wasn't sure on what to do. Ayumi continued. 'I used to watch my classmates. While everyone else would run around enjoying themselves, Sekai would go to acting practice. She chases her dreams. She's been my inspiration when I've felt down. I feel that in return I should trust her.'

This seemed to be all Ayumi wanted to say on the subject. She stood and stared at Erika, waiting for the Air Marshall to make her decision. After several minutes of deep thought, spinning everything around in her mind, Erika finally reached a decision.

'Fine, I'll give him a chance,' she said. Ayumi's face lit up in joy at her words and Erika couldn't help but smile also. Together they turned and started to walk back to the cave to confront Max.

_Guess I'll need to lay down some ground rules, make sure he knows who's in charge, just in case,_ thought Erika, feeling like an overprotective Father with a teenage daughter who was starting to date. She chuckled slightly at the thought.

Suddenly Erika felt and impact on the side of her head. Before she lost consciousness she heard Ayumi screaming her name.

* * *

After Erika had fallen, the assailant turned on Ayumi, hitting her in the head with a makeshift club. She fell to the ground in a heap next to her companion. The assailant looked at Erika and saw that when she had collapsed, her head had impacted a rock sticking out of the ground. Kneeling down, he checked and didn't feel a pulse.

_One down_, he thought. He looked at Ayumi and saw that she was still alive, but out cold. He decided to leave her; the creatures of the island would probably be here soon to get her anyways.

He noticed something on the older woman, and crouching down, saw the gun. He retrieved it and smiled.

_Perfect, this is just what I need to have fun with the others._ He thought.

Underneath his white hockey mask, Hades, self-proclaimed lord of the Island smiled. He left the two fallen females and headed towards the cave where his prey waited. Soon, their reckoning would be at hand, and everyone would know his dominance.


	9. Chapter 9: War Games

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note:** Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**A/N: **I would like to thank BlindSeer0 for beta reading the fic like usual.

**A/N:** As current readers might have noticed, I just did a bit of rearranging of the chapters and their placements. Chapters 3 and 4 which were side chapters were fused with chapter 1, which they share the same period of time with. Another side chapter, formerly chapter 10, was moved to its correct spot as chapter 3. The other chapters and names have been moved around to accommodate these changes.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 9: War Games**

Ayumi groaned as she came to. She felt like she had been hit over the head with something very, very solid. Not too much unlike the time she had been reading a store sign across the street and walked straight into a metal poll. The girl decided not to move and just wait for the throbbing in her head to subside, her eyes shut tightly in an attempt to block out the pain.

_Ug, did I walk into a tree again?_ She wondered to herself. _What was I doing again? Oh right, going after Erika-san. Why was that again?_ She tried to get her thoughts straight, thinking things through slowly.

_Let's see, what did I do today again? First, I woke up as soon as the sun rose, Hayasaka-san is such a slave driver. I like Miho-san much better, she's much nicer. Has a great voice also. Then we finished up the last of the food we had collected, drank the last of our water and started walking. Why couldn't we just find a nice area by the river and stay there? Oh wait, I remember, Hayasaka-san and Erika-san thought that if we stayed still too long the monsters would be more likely to gather so we needed to stay on the move. Plus, if we didn't start cultivating a slice of land we'd very likely need to go searching for food anyways, so might as well just keep moving._

The throbbing in Ayumi's head seemed to increase as she tried to keep her thoughts from derailing. She had always been chastised for going off on tangents by her teachers and other students. It made the times when she was actually willing to talk to people very difficult to understand her. _But not Grandpa_, she thought_, he always enjoyed my tangents, said he found the random trivia and my lines of thought interesting._

She shook her head in an attempt to physically get her mind back on track, but just made the throbbing worse. _Well, that was a bad idea. I'm glad no one is here to see me make a fool of myself; they'd just think I was an idiot._ Something occurred to her suddenly. _Wait, I'm not alone, I was following Erika-san into the forest. She had found out Nanasawa-san's travelling companion was a murderer from America. Miho-san helped Nanasawa-san to convince her that the man wasn't a threat. Then Erika-san stormed out of the cave and I followed._

This line of thought seemed to be getting her the answers she needed, so Ayumi continued following it, trying not to distract herself. _I confronted her and convinced her to give the man a chance. What was his name again? Max Samson, right? Wait, is his first name Max, or is it Samson? What order do they say them in America again? Would his name be Max Samson in Japan, or Samson Max? I should ask Erika-San that. Wait, Erika-san!_ Ayumi suddenly remembered why she had the headache. She opened her eyes and sat up, yelling as she did so.

'Erika-San!' Due to the speed of her sitting up, the pain increased in her head, but she ignored it. Ayumi looked around and saw several splotches of blood on the ground. Turning around to look behind, she saw her friend lying behind her. The girl tried to stand up but collapsed in a wave of pain again. She reflexively brought her hand to her head due to the pain and was surprised to feel something wet. Bringing her hand down she saw that it was covered in blood; her blood.

'Oh, that's not good…" Now that she was aware of the wound, it started hurting more and more, her vision seeming to blur for a second. In one of the brief moments of focus, she saw Erika's still unmoving body and was brought suddenly back to reality. She slowly crawled over the Air Marshal, calling out as she did so. 'Erika-san, are you okay? Please, answer me. Tell me you're fine, please," she pleaded.

Ayumi made it to the body and, checked the pulse as she had been instructed by her grandfather. She moved her fingers all over the still warm neck, desperately searching, but found nothing. The girl put her head on the woman's chest, hoping for a heart beat there, but still there was nothing.

'Erika-san, wake up, please, you can't be dead, you can't be….' She pleaded; refusing to accept the situation as she gently shook the body in an attempt to wake up the Air Marshal. Erika just stared up at her with empty eyes. Her head showed signs of blunt force trauma and blood was plastered in her hair and on the ground.

At that moment Ayumi gave up in fighting back the tears and just cried, burying her face in the chest of her trusted companion and friend for the last several harrowing months. She didn't know how long she kneeled there crying, but eventually the tears slowly stopped coming out, leaving Ayumi feeling hollow inside.

_Erika-san's dead, what should I do now?_ She wondered to herself. _Is there a point to continuing?_ Ayumi could feel herself getting more and more depressed. _Erika-san was there for me when we crashed on this island. If it wasn't for her I would never have survived this long. She was my support, when I was with her I felt like I could live. She did so much for me and I never did anything for her…._

Unable to manage any more tears, Ayumi just sat there staring at Erika, an occasional sob breaking out every so often.

* * *

'There we go,' said Miho, putting all of her supplies back into her bag. 'That's about all I can do with just this first aid kit, I hope it's enough.' In front of her sat Max, covered in bandages and gauze. He smiled weakly at Miho and then looked at Sekai who was sitting to Miho's left.

"Tell her thank you, I feel much better already. I'm feeling sleepy from the medication though." Before Sekai could relay the thanks though, Miho returned the smile and spoke up in English.

"There is no need for Sekai-san to repeat your words. I can understand English well," she responded in stilted English. She was much slower at speaking than Sekai, but actually had less of an accent.

"Wow, that's pretty good. You don't have much of an accent either," responded Max. "I had kinda assumed that Sekai was an oddity when it came to understanding and speaking English."

Miho took a little while to respond, as Max's very casual way of speaking seemed to confuse her for a minute.

"Oddity?" she asked.

"Strange. Singular. Not common."

"Ah. I am very interested in singing. I like singing and listening to Japanese songs, but I have an interest in English songs. I spent time studying English trying to figure out what the words meant. I also practiced singing the songs, so I would have less of an accent."

Sekai sat watching the conversation unfold, her hand tangled up in Clifford's fur as the pup slept. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yuuki watching the conversation with displeasure. She doubted that he liked not being able to understand what was being said, though he probably disliked his sister talking to a supposed rapist and murderer even more.

Sekai thought about what she knew about the Hayasaka siblings. Even though she had never been in a class with either of them, they were well known, or infamous in Yuuki's case. Miho was known to be extremely friendly and outgoing to anyone she met. She also had a great singing voice and could be found randomly bursting into song all over campus. Everyone liked her and Sekai had never heard anyone bad mouth her, she treated everyone too nicely for even the meanest to think badly of her, at least out loud.

Her brother Yuuki on the other hand was a completely different matter. No one held back on bad mouthing him. Behind his back of course, since most were too afraid to do so to his face. He was two years older than his sister, and it was rumored he had been held back due to fighting. Sekai didn't usually pay that much attention to her classmates, so most of what she knew had come from Kimiko, who had been more outgoing.

"And the medicine?" asked Max. "I know basic first aid, but you seem to have taken some classes, plus your bag and equipment look well used."

"My brother gets into fights all of the time, so I have had plenty of practice patching him up."

There was a lull in the conversation after that. Max seemed to be falling asleep due to the pain killers, and Sekai was starting to feel sleepy herself. It had been a stressful day and she felt drained. Besides her Miho finished packing up all of her supplies and stood up, stretching. Sekai leaned against the wall, her eyelids closing as she was about to fall asleep but the sound of voices kept her awake.

'Yuuki, I'm worried about Ayumi-chan and Phelps-san, it's been a while and they still haven't returned.'

'And you want me to go look for them,' said Yuuki, finishing the thought and not seeming pleased with it.

'Please, they could be in danger or injured.'

'You want me to leave you alone with two people that we hardly know, one of which is a criminal, and the other armed with knives, to go searching for a liar with a gun and a girl who never says more than five words?'

'Yes.' Miho's tone had gathered an edge of steel to it, the one word carrying more weight behind it than any argument could. Deciding this was more important than sleep; Sekai opened her eyes and looked at the siblings who were busy staring down each other.

'If it makes you feel any better, I'll go with you to search. That way there will only be one person who you don't know with Miho-san,' said Sekai, standing up and slinging her backpack over her shoulder. Miho seemed grateful, but her brother still seemed displeased, though Sekai didn't think she had ever seen him smile or look happy, so maybe it was just his default setting. After a moment of contemplation, Yuuki spoke up.

'Fine, I'll go searching with her, but on one condition; you leave one of the knives with Miho.'

'Fine,' said Sekai grudgingly. She took Max's knife off her belt and handed it slowly to Miho. Yuuki watched her the whole time, ready to move at the slightest sign of trouble. Sekai wondered if there was ever a time that he wasn't tightly wound or ready to fight someone. Miho carefully took the knife, looking unsure as she held it.

'I'll take good care of it for you,' she said, smiling at Sekai. Yuuki interrupted any response Sekai could make.

'If that man makes any sudden movements, run or use the knife on him.' Before Miho could complain about his order, Yuuki turned around and walked out of the cave. 'Let's go and find them before it gets dark.'

The two walked together through the jungle, Yuuki in the lead and Sekai slightly behind, neither saying a word. Sekai looked around trying to find clues on where Erika and Ayumi had gone, but was having no luck. Without any clues, they decided to just go straight from the cave entrance, since that would seem to make the most sensible direction for them to go. After the cave entrance wasn't in view anymore, Yuuki stopped walking and turned to face Sekai.

'I want you to tell me what's up with that man in the cave,' he demanded. Sekai stopped walking and stared at him, refusing to let herself be intimidated by him.

'His name is Max Samson; he's from America and was on the plane from Guam to Japan, just like us.'

'What was with what Phelps was saying about him in the cave?'

'He's a wanted fugitive in America,' Sekai admitted, knowing that Yuuki wouldn't buy anything less than what he wanted to hear. 'But those charges are false; the real murderer is his father.'

Yuuki stared intently at her, looking straight into her eyes as if he could see the truth in them. Sekai willed herself to return the stare. She wasn't lying, and she would prove it.

'Are you sure of that?' he pressed.

'Yes.'

The stare down continued for a few more minutes until Yuuki finally broke contact and turned around. He started walking through the jungle again.

'Come on, we need to find those two idiotic girls before anything happens to them,' he said, signaling that the conversation was over. Sekai let loose a silent sigh, the tension from the previous moments leaving her briefly. The tension returned when Yuuki spoke up again though. 'Remember, I still don't fully believe your trust is correctly placed in that man. He's dangerous, I can feel it. I won't let him or anyone else hurt Miho in any way. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt only because Miho wants me too. At the first sign of danger from him, or even you, I will NOT hesitate to kill you.' Sekai felt a shiver run down her back at the conviction and emotion he said the words with.

They continued walking for a few more minutes in silence until Sekai heard a noise coming from her right. She stopped and cocked her head, trying to figure out what the sound was. Yuuki stopped also and looked back at her, somehow also noticing her halting.

'What is it?' he asked impatiently.

'Do you hear that?' she asked, walking slowly towards the sound.

'Hear what?' he asked.

'It's a sound.'

'Well that's descriptive,' he replied sarcastically. Sekai ignored him as she finally recognized the sound.

'Someone's crying over there!' she said, running towards the sound.

'Hey! Wait you moron!' exclaimed Yuuki, rushing after her.

Sekai broke through some bushes into a clearing and saw Ayumi kneeling on the ground.

'Ayumi!' she exclaimed, forgetting to use honorifics at the sight in front of her. The small girl was huddled on the ground by the still body of Erika, sobbing into the Air Marshall's chest. Sekai hurried over to the girl and crouched down next to her. 'Ayumi, what happened?'

The girl continued to sob for a moment, then she looked up at Sekai and Sekai felt her heart break at seeing Ayumi's face. Tracks of dried tears ran from puffy red eyes. Snot dripped from her nose. Sekai had never seen anyone this sad before and had no idea what she should do to cheer her up. Before she could think of an idea, Yuuki chimed up from next to her.

'She's dead,' he stated simply. Sekai saw him standing up from where he had been crouching by Erika's body. He pointed to her head and Sekai saw blood. 'I'm going to go out on a limb her and guess from a blow to the head.'

Sekai fought the brief urge to strangle him for his lack of tact. Ayumi didn't seem to notice his words and just stared blankly at Sekai. Sekai knew needed to do something, so she made a quick decision.

'Come on Ayumi,' she said as friendly, gently and soothingly as she could muster. 'Let's get you back to the cave. Yuuki-san, please grab Erika-san's body.'

Yuuki looked like he was going to complain for a minute, but seemed to decide it wasn't worth the effort, so with a grunt he lifted up the Air Marshall in his arms and started walking back towards the cave. Sekai gently guided the still catatonic Ayumi through the jungle, the smaller girl leaning heavily against her.

As they neared the area the cave was located in, Sekai suddenly heard voices.

'Don't try to resist or this will end up being more painful than it needs to be,' said an unfamiliar voice from the direction of the cave. Sekai stopped walking and Ayumi halted as well, following her lead. The smaller girl seemed to recognize the voice and started shivering. Yuuki stopped also, but only to quietly drop Erika's body to the ground. He started to edge slowly and silently to the tree line to enter the clearing around the cave.

Sekai motioned for Ayumi to stay where she was and followed after Yuuki. She peeked through the bushed and saw Miho running out of the cave holding her shoulder. A wooden club with a chunk of rock on the end went flying from the cave and pegged her square in the back, knocking her down. A person wearing the male uniform of their school and a creepy white mask walked out of the cave holding Max's knife, which was covered in blood, in his left hand. It was as he was about to approach Miho that Yuuki finally lost control and charged out of the bushes with a yell.

'Get away from her you bastard!' he screamed, running at the masked man. Before Yuuki could make it to his target though, he was brought up short by his worst nightmare.

'You move any further Hayasaka and I shoot your sister,' threatened the masked man, pointing a gun at the still stunned Miho. Yuuki stopped moving and the man edged closer to Miho, the gun always pointed at her and an eye on Yuuki.

Sekai stayed behind the bushes and watched the scene in horror. The man made it to Miho and forced her into a kneeling position, the knife at her throat. He pointed the gun at the scowling Yuuki and spoke up.

'That's a good boy,' he said, his voice full of sick amusement. 'You probably don't know me, but I know you. You care about your sister more than your own life, so I promise you, one move that I don't like, and she dies.'

'Who are you?' asked Yuuki.

'My name is Hades, lord of this island. All of you puny mortals trapped on this island struggling to survive are my play things.'

'What do you want?'

'To watch you squirm.' Due to the mask Sekai couldn't be sure, but she felt that Hades was smiling, taking pleasure in his sick game. 'I also want Nanasawa Sekai to come out from hiding behind those bushes. Miho here yelled both of your names when she heard me approaching, thinking I was you. If you do anything I find threatening, I'll kill Miho, and you wouldn't want that now, would you Nanasawa?'

Hades kept the gun pointed at Yuuki. Sekai was worried about Max and Clifford who hadn't seemed to have moved from the cave, but at this point she had more immediate problems to deal with. Not wanting to antagonize Hades, Sekai unclipped her knife and put it and her backpack down on the ground. She then walked out of the bushes, her hands held up to show she was unarmed.

'Good girl,' sneered Hades. Sekai walked over to stand by Yuuki, who looked positively furious at the situation.

'Are you the one you killed Phelps-san and Ayumi-san?' Sekai asked with as much anger as she could manage, hoping to make it seem like Ayumi had been killed. Hopefully that way Hades wouldn't think to force her out into danger also.'

'If you're talking about the woman who had this gun, then yeah, that was me. Last I checked though, Tohya wasn't dead, just unconscious. Guess she was too weak for the island and died anyways,' he said, letting out a cold hearted laugh.

'What did you do to the other occupants in the cave?'

'You mean the American and the dog? The pup tried to bite me so I kicked the thing against the wall, no clue if it's still alive. The American though, he's currently bleeding out from a stab wound from this knife. He woke up as I was taking the knife from Miho here. Actually tried to stop me, so I punished him. He's not going anywhere for a while.'

Sekai tried to think of a plan to get them out of this, but her thoughts were interrupted by a gun shot zipping by next to her and shooting the area right next to where she had been.

'Hmph. Guess Tohya wasn't with you. Oh well, that just makes this easier,' said Hades, moving the pistol back the face the cave, his knife still firmly against Miho's throat. 'Although, it would be so much better with a third contestant.'

'What do you mean contestant?' asked Sekai, her mind going blank instead of obeying her command to think of something, anything to get them all out to safety.

'I'm glad you asked!' responded Hades, sounding like some sick game show host. 'You and Yuuki here will have a face off to the death. You win, the American goes free and Miho dies. Yuuki wins, the American dies and Miho lives. Oh, and don't think about making any moves. You do anything I don't like, and they both die. No matter what happens, two of you will die; it's up to you two to decide who.'

Sekai just stood there in stunned horror at Hades' insane game. Did he really expect them to kill each other? Sekai noticed movement to her right and barely managed to get out of the way as Yuuki's fist came at her. Sadly, she wasn't fast enough to dodge the kick that came after and was knocked over a few feet away from where she had been standing.

'Wonderful,' said Hades, sounding pleased with the turn of events.

Sekai attempted to get off the ground as fast as possible as she saw that Yuuki was moving forward to press his attack. She got to her feet and took what she felt was a fighting stance. Yuuki continued forward, his face devoid of emotion.

'Sorry about this Nanasawa, but Miho's life is more important to me than yours is.'

He lashed out with a straight right punch that Sekai barely managed to stop with her arms in a guard position like she had seen in action movies. Before she had anytime to react though his left foot came out of nowhere and swept out her legs from underneath her. As Sekai was in mid fall, Yuuki's elbow came down on her stomach, knocking her violently to the ground.

Reacting again on instinct, Sekai rolled as soon as she hit the ground, managing to buy some relief from his attacks. She fought to get on her feet as Yuuki moved towards her again. He lashed out with a furious barrage of attacks that Sekai barely managed to avoid, giving up on any hope of being able to stop his attacks.

'Amazing attacks Hayasaka. I guess the rumors and stories about your fighting skills were true,' remarked Hades, enjoying the show. He continued speaking, taunting the combatants. 'Trained in several forms of martial arts, a master of unarmed combat and street fighting. I heard you even got in a fight and took on the monster of class 3-4, Yarai Koichi. You lost of course, but I heard the fight you put up was amazing.'

Yuuki let out a roundhouse kick, but Sekai managed to dodge it by moving back. She tried to take advantage of the opening to take him down, but as she moved forward he lashed out with a spinning back kick with the other foot, catching her square in the stomach and flying back.

'You shouldn't bother attacking Nanasawa, you're much better at running away,' taunted Hades.

As Sekai got back up on her feet she thought about his words. _It's true. I'm not made to attack, plus Yuuk i's too skilled of a fighter. There's no way I'm going to take him down on his own terms. Maybe if I had the knife, but I don't, and it's very likely he knows how to counter knife attacks anyways, I'd probably end up dead quicker._ She dodged another punch and blocked an elbow swinging to her face.

_Max taught me a lot, but he never taught me how to fight._ A sudden epiphany hit her. _That's it! Max didn't teach me how to fight; he taught me how to survive. If fighting Yuuki straight on isn't working, then I just need to change the terms._

Yuuki let loose another powerful roundhouse kick, but instead of dodging or blocking, Sekai moved forward into it, taking the blow to the side. She thought she might have felt something break, but ignored the pain and instead tackled Yuuki, taking him off guard. Continuing with her surprise momentum, she head butted him in the face. She thought she heard a crunching sound, but that might have just been the ringing in her head.

Yuuki recovered quickly and lashed out with a counter attack to her close up assault, but was surprised to find that she was running towards the tree line. He rushed after her, but before he could catch up she was already climbing up a tree as skillfully as any monkey. The young man attempted to grab her but she lashed out with a kick.

The kick hit his side, and taking a page from her book he took the blow full on, wrapping his arm around her leg and yanking. Sekai didn't even bother holding onto the tree. Instead she pushed herself out and onto Yuuki, throwing the fighter off balance. They both tumbled to the ground in a mass of flailing arms and legs, biting kicking and striking with any part of their bodies they could.

Sekai was on top, but was forced to use every ounce of her strength to keep the advantageous position. She wished she could try to talk to Yuuki and make a plan, but she was too busy using all of her strength to survive. The girl didn't want anyone to die, but her own self preservation was something she couldn't ignore.

A scream cut through the sounds of Yuuki and Sekai's struggle, causing them both to stop and look at Hades. The masked psycho was falling forward, pushed by the small girl who was driving a knife straight into his back. Miho finally moved and got free from Hades grip, ripping the knife from his hands as he fell next to her. The gun went off and the bullet went wide, slamming into the rock wall of the entrance.

Yuuki and Sekai disengaged from each other, their struggle forgotten as they rushed forward to disarm Hades and in Yuuki's case, probably punish him. They made it to the psycho who was trying to get Ayumi and her knife off of him. He raised his right arm, trying to bend it to shoot her, but Yuuki grabbed his wrist and broke Hades arm, forcing him to drop the gun.

Hades let loose another scream of pain. Miho backed up away from Hades, holding the knife that had recently been held to her throat. Sekai picked up the gun and held it at Hades, incase he made a wrong move. Yuuki towered over the masked man, a vicious smile finally breaking on his face.

'Good job Tohya-san.,' he said. Ayumi didn't respond, seemingly frozen gripping the knife still stuck in Hades back. Yuuki looked down at Hades, his smile never breaking. 'Now, I wonder what we should about you. For all the shit you've pulled I should just kill you to get this over with.'

Before they could make any more moves or decide what to do with Hades, a large form came rushing out of the jungle at them. It charged Yuuki from behind before anyone could say a word and threw him at Sekai who dropped the gun when he slammed into her. As she struggled to her feet the intruder knocked Ayumi off of Hades, the knife going with her. The masked man let out another scream of pain when the knife left at a rough angle, ripping his wound open even wider.

The large form lifted Hades to his feet and looked at Miho, who was standing frozen in horror.

'It can't be,' said Miho in disbelief. 'What are you doing helping him?'

Sekai and Yuuki managed to stand up, and the intruder turned to face them. Sekai hadn't been the best at paying attention to her classmates, but even she knew who this person was.

'Arita-san,' said Sekai, her voice coming out as a whisper due to surprise. Arita Kohei was the volleyball club's ace and all around popular nice guy at the school. Everyone liked and respected him; they all wanted to be him. It seemed to defy logic that he would be helping a murder, but here he was, saving Hades.

'You bastard!' yelled Yuuki, taking a fighting stance. 'What the hell do you think you're doing? This guy's a murder who just tried to kill my sister!'

Kohei just looked at Yuuki and gave a sad smile.

'I'm also a murderer; I killed the pilot on the plane.' He looked reflective as he spoke. 'I've probably killed near a dozen of our classmates, maybe even more. They put their trust in me, but sadly it was misplaced. I can't even remember what their faces are. I can't see your faces either. I know your expressions are there, I can even imagine what they must be like, but I just can't connect them in my head….'

Yuuki charged forward as Kohei rambled on. He tried to punch Kohei, but the volleyball star just stopped it easily with his hand and returned the favor with a punch of his own that Yuuki barely blocked. He retreated a step, accessing his options. Kohei just smirked.

'Amazing isn't it? Soon after landing on this island I hit my head, now I seem to have increased strength. You might be a famed fighter, but I bet I could even take Yarai on like this. I don't even feel pain.' He gave a demented smile. 'It's a blessing really. I know I killed people, but I can't see their faces. Makes disassociating with the guilt so much easier.'

As they all stood there in shock trying to figure out what to do, Kohei made the first move and lifted Hades into his arms.

'Would love to stay and chat, but I just came here to save Hades. He rescued me from drowning in a river a few days ago; figure I should return the favor.'

As suddenly as he had come, Kohei took the injured Hades into the jungle, disappearing from their sight. Sekai collapsed to the ground in relief, the fight was over. She looked around at her companions though and realized that the danger still hadn't passed.

Ayumi was huddled on the ground still clutching the knife. Miho had collapsed to her knees and was crying into her hands, finally releasing all the stress that had built up with her life being on the line. Yuuki's face was filled with a stone cold fury. Sekai looked into the cave and saw Max, walking carefully outside, his side freshly bandaged up and showing fresh blood. Clifford was limping by his side, unsteady on his feet but trying to return to his mistress's side.

The damage had been done and it would take a lot of time and effort for them to even return to the uneasy truce they had had before the fight.


	10. Chapter 10: Back to the Future

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note:** Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**A/N:**I would like to thank BlindSeer0 for beta reading the fic like usual.

**A/N:** As current readers might have noticed, I just did a bit of rearranging of the chapters and their placements. Chapters 3 and 4 which were side chapters were fused with chapter 1, which they share the same period of time with. Another side chapter, formerly chapter 10, was moved to its correct spot as chapter 3. The other chapters and names have been moved around to accommodate these changes.

**Please Read and Review**

**Chapter 10: Back to the Future**

Sekai surveyed the area around her and realized that the future was looking very bleak. It hadn't even been five minutes since she had been fighting for her life against Yuuki on Hades orders. Now Sekai realized that the damage he had done hadn't left with him. She could feel bruises all over her body and knew that she would soon probably be too sore to move. There were matters far worse that she had to deal with though.

Clifford limped over to her and lay down at her feet. She crouched down, grunting slightly in pain to pet him. As she absentmindedly ran her fingers through his fur, she looked and saw Max sitting down and resting his back against the side of the cave. His side was bandaged, but fresh blood was staining them red. She thought briefly about going over to assist him, but realized she couldn't do much without help.

"Stay here Clifford," she said in English as she stood up and turned around. 'Yuuki-san, I need to talk to you.'

The boy looked over at her, his eyes full of hate at the world. He grudgingly walked over, standing tall and threateningly in front of the smaller girl.

'What is it?' he asked. 'I have more important things do besides talking to you, like taking care of my sister.'

'I was thinking the same thing,' replied Sekai, keeping eye contact and refusing to back down. Inside she just felt the urge to run and hide, to shut out the world, but she fought it. _I need to do this. I need his help so that everyone can survive, _she thought to herself. So, summoning up all of her courage and acting skill, Sekai laid out her plan. 'We're low on supplies, like food and water, especially water. Since we have wounded I suspect we'll need lots of fresh water.'

'And?' said Yuuki, refusing to be swayed by her attempt at a commanding tone.

'And I need your help to gather the supplies before dark,' she admitted. 'You're the least injured and most able to move about. We need some food, water and wood for a fire.'

'I could just take Miho and leave, what makes you think I'd help you?' he asked. 'If you're that injured, what's to stop me from taking all of your supplies while I'm at it?

'Nothing. Nothing is stopping you,' she replied. 'I have nothing to do but ask for your assistance. I need your help collecting supplies; no one else can do so. Max is heavily injured from his previous wounds and from being stabbed. Ayumi is catatonic and Erika is dead. In a few hours I'll probably collapse from pain.'

Yuuki just stared at her blankly while she spoke, not saying a word, just judging her it seemed. She pushed on regardless, knowing that time was of the essence, and so was his help.

'You could take Miho and our supplies and leave, but you would be leaving us for dead. Without the supplies we'll be hard pressed to survive. I know you don't care about us, but what about Miho?'

'Are you threatening her?' asked Yuuki, menace in his voice. She saw flickers of motion out of the corner of her eye as he clenched and unclenched his fists, probably using all his might to not just punch her right then and there.

'No. She was also injured in this fight. Not physically really, but mentally. Haven't you also seen it?'

She looked to her left at Miho who was still collapsed on the ground in a heap, tears streaking down her face. Yuuki also looked, and the expression he made at her suffering almost broke Sekai's heart. She hadn't thought he was capable of showing such anguish, but at her prompting he seemed to realize he was powerless to help his sister. The girl continued to push though. She needed his help so that they could all survive; this was for everyone's sake, especially Miho's.

Sekai briefly wondered to herself why she was doing this. Why did she care about Ayumi, Miho and even Yuuki surviving_? Is it because they're my classmates? I've never really talked or interacted with any of them before today. Yuuki even tried to kill me, why do I owe him anything?_ Despite thinking that though, images of Miho smiling and talking to her and Max flashed in her head. Memories of Ayumi speaking up and telling Erika to stand down and not shoot joined them. The memories disappeared and she was greeted with the two girls who had been smiling and talking mere hours before crying and nearly catatonic on the ground. At that moment she realized why she was doing this.

'Please Yuuki,' she begged, turning back to him. 'I need your help. We don't have time to stay here all day and talk. While you get the supplies I swear I will do all I can to help your sister.'

He gave a grimace and then turned away from her, walking over to his sister.

'Miho,' he said gently, crouching down beside her. She looked at him and shied away from him, more tears bursting out in a new wave of crying. Yuuki also recoiled, seemingly caught off guard by her reaction. He stared at her for a second, and then stood up. 'I'm going to go out and gather up supplies before it gets dark. Stay safe little sister, I'll be back.'

Yuuki walked over to Sekai and together they emptied out his backpack so that he could carry supplies in it. They consolidated the little water into Sekai's canteen. He took Max's canteen and all the bottles they had to collect more water with. Sekai gave him directions based on her own recollections of the area and without a word of thanks or goodbye, he was gone.

Sekai looked around, gave a sigh, and decided to get to work. Next after getting Yuuki's help was to get Miho functioning. Not only would that make sure Yuuki was firmly on her side, her first aid skills and ability to cheer up a room with just a smile would be vital. Sekai didn't know how she knew all of this, but she could feel it somehow. She walked slowly over to the weeping girl.

'Miho,' she said gently, crouching down beside her. She looked at Sekai and suddenly hugged her tightly, tears soaking into the actress's shirt. Sekai was caught off guard by this reaction, but responded by tentatively hugging her back. 'You're safe now, don't worry, Hades and Arita are gone now.'

Miho lifted her head from Sekai's shoulder and looked the actress in the eyes. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her face was streaked with tears and mucus. She sniffed and spoke up in a choked voice.

'It's not them I'm afraid of,' she said, words tumbling out. 'I mean, I am afraid of them, they shot your friend, kicked your dog and threatened to kill me. It was one of the scariest moments of my life, even compared to the first night on the plane. What was even scarier than possibly dying though was watching you almost get killed.'

More tears came out and Sekai briefly wondered were they were all coming from. She was also confused by Miho's statement. Why would the girl be so scared to almost see her die? Before Sekai could ask or say anything to try to comfort her though, Miho continued to speak.

'I was powerless and had to watch as my brother almost killed you to save me. It was then I realized just how terrifying he was. He was willing to end your life so that mine would continue. I didn't, I don't want that. I don't want others to die for me.'

Sekai almost expected more tears to come with that statement, but none did. _If this was a movie, there would probably be tears and a pause right now as I comfort her,_ thought Sekai wryly. Unaware of her musings, Miho continued.

'Yuuki's taken part time work to help out my mother, he's not a bad person. He's always protected me. I've known that I'm the reason he's always getting into fights. I took up first aid to patch him and his opponents up as a way to deal with the guilt,' she said, her voice full of self-loathing. 'It wasn't until today though that I realized how far he was willing to go. He scares me. I scare me for letting things get this far.'

Sekai decided enough was enough and tightened her hold on Miho, bringing her into a crushing hug and shutting her up. She had to resist groaning at the pain from her bruises being touched, but Miho was going into a depressing loop of logic and Sekai had heard enough.

'That's enough. There was nothing you could do to stop any of this. Hades was threatening you and your brother was forced to choose between someone he loved and a stranger. I don't blame him and neither should you,' she said firmly. 'If you're scared of what he's become then blaming yourself won't fix the problem. You need to tell him what you're thinking. We can't change the past; we can only live for the future.'

Sekai pulled back from her embrace, looked directly into Miho's eyes and smiled.

'There's nothing to worry about. I'll be with you and help you. You're not alone on this island. I'm your ally, and so is your brother, even if he has a violent way of showing it.'

They shared another hug, this one seeming to last longer than any other even though it was really shorter than the previous one. The two girls disengaged and stood up from where they had been sitting. Miho wiped her face on her shirt, a look of determination appearing on her face.

'Thank you Sekai, I needed that,' she said. 'What do we do now?'

'Yuuki is gathering supplies so we need to prepare for when he gets back. You might want to put a bandage on that cut on your throat,' replied the actress, pointing to where Hades knife had drawn blood when pressing across her throat. 'And afterwards could you look at Max and Clifford, make sure they're fine?'

'Sure. What are you going to do?'

'There's someone else who I think needs my help,' said Sekai, looking over at Ayumi who was still cuddled up and holding the knife. It had been almost half an hour since the fight and the little girl hadn't moved an inch. Miho seemed to catch her meaning and with a nod walked over to the cave to get her kit and check on her charges.

Sekai took a deep breath and walked over to Ayumi. She approached slowly, trying not to spook the girl. Ayumi didn't react to her approach, not seeming to realize that she was there. When Sekai was a barely a meter from the girl she stopped and spoke up.

'Ayumi,' she said softly, like with Miho not bothering with honorifics. 'May I talk to you?'

The small girl looked up at Sekai, her face dry, but still red. She had a blank expression and her eyes seemed to be almost devoid of life. Blood covered the knife gripped tightly in her hands. There were also splotches on her hands and clothes. Her hair was matted with blood in one spot and Sekai was reminded that she had been hurt earlier in the day. They would probably need Miho to check to make sure she was ok, but first she needed to make sure Ayumi was back in reality.

Ayumi didn't respond any further to her question so Sekai decided to go the rest of the distance and sit down next her. She ignored the knife while doing so and when she was sitting she made sure to look at the cave entrance. In the distance she saw Miho fussing over Max, cleaning his wound and wrapping new bandages around his stomach.

'I'm sorry about Phelps-san,' said Sekai, breaking the silence. She knew the Sky Marshall had meant a lot to the small girl and was probably the root of her depression. Sekai made a mental note to collect Erika's body from the tree edge and get her buried as soon as she was done with more pressing matters.

Ayumi didn't respond and they just sat there quietly for a few minutes. Sekai was about to speak again in an attempt to start a conversation when the small girl finally spoke up.

'When we crashed on this island I was completely overwhelmed,' said Ayumi. Sekai sneaked a peek and saw that she was looking forward at nothing in particular, the knife still held absently in hand. 'I fled from the plane and into a clearing. Standing in it was Erika-san. She wasn't moving, just staring absently at nothing. I was about to run when I saw one of the monsters that had attacked us at the plane sneaking up on her. I almost ran, but decided at the last second the yell out a warning instead. She had enough time to respond and shot the monster with her gun, killing it.'

Ayumi stopped talking and went quiet again. Over by the cave Miho had finished wrapping up Max and was gently calling out to Clifford, trying to attract the wolf pup to her. Sekai saw Max say something, probably instructing her that Clifford only responded to English. Sekai figured she switched languages since the wolf pup stood up and slowly approached her. As he neared the cave, Ayumi spoke up again.

'After that I asked if I could join her. I was so happy when she said yes. It's all because of her I was able to survive. She protected me the whole time. Again and again she would avert any danger that came towards me. Erika-san was my guardian angel.' Ayumi stopped and took a deep breath.

'Eventually we met up with Miho-san and Hayasaka-kun. From then on we travelled in a group. Erika lied about her last name and had me keep the secret of her being a Sky Marshall, just in case. A week later, we saw you in the tree. Everything has moved so fast since this morning. One second we're talking to a serial killer and the next Erika-san is dead.'

Sekai glanced over and saw that Ayumi was looking down at the blood covered knife in her hands. Her hands had started to tighten around the knife's handle, her knuckles whitening from gripping so hard. She continued speaking, her voice choked with emotion.

'She did so much for me, and the moment she needed me the most I was unable to help. I did nothing for her the whole time on the island. She did everything. What was the point of me surviving the first night? I was the one who pointed you out in the tree. I was the one who found you and your friend in the cave. If I hadn't done either of those Erika-san wouldn't have gone off into the forest and been killed by Hades. It's my fault she's dead. Why am I still here when she's not?'

Sekai reached out and gently wrapped her hands around the small girl's. Ayumi finally turned and looked into her eyes. The actress saw tears forming in the girls eyes as emotion finally returned to them. Sekai spoke up.

'You're here because Erika-san wanted you to live. She risked her life to keep yours safe. Do you think she'd really want you dead?' Sekai tightened her grip in Ayumi's hands. 'You saved her that first night. Don't forget that. Erika-san listened to you when no one else in the cave could convince her to stop. If it hadn't been for you, there probably would have been a fight worse than what Hades caused.'

'But my convincing her to stop led her to leaving and getting killed.'

'No it didn't,' replied Sekai firmly. 'Events were out of your control. Nothing was your fault. You aren't the one who killed her. You were a victim. People die; it's a sad fact of life. On the first night many of us were killed, including my best friend Kimiko. I watched from the plane as a monster ate her. At first, I felt it was my fault, but eventually I realized there was nothing I could do about it. I still miss her immensely, but that's not going to stop me from surviving. When I get off this island and back home my first priority will be to tell her parents and get a grave erected.'

Sekai moved her hands from Ayumi's and shifted them to the girl's shoulders.

'I told this to Miho and I'll say it to you, we can't change the past, we can only live for the future. You don't need to face things alone. I'm here for you, and so is Miho. There are things only you can do. I feel that there will come a day that your help will be invaluable. Live for the future, and when we get off this island come with me to find Erika-san's loved ones. We can tell them the truth of her bravery and the sadness of her death. How does that sound?'

Sekai heard a soft thump as Ayumi finally dropped the knife and moved to embrace the actress in a hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes, the small girl gently weeping her last tears into Sekai's shoulder. Eventually they stood up together and walked over to join the others by the cave.

Only a few words were exchanged between the group members as they took turns being examined and bandaged up by Miho. When they weren't they grabbed up all of their equipment and supplies and taking inventory and doing any repair or cleaning necessary.

They finished up within an hour, Miho and Ayumi sat down in the cave to rest while Max, Sekai and Clifford stood watch for either monsters or Yuuki. Sekai briefly considered going out to try to find him, but figured that if he had actually run into trouble he couldn't deal with, she wouldn't be able to either in her injured state.

Clifford was resting his head on Sekai's lap as she pet him. No words were spoken between the companions. Together they watched the sun set, neither looking at the other. The silence was broken when Max spoke up though.

"Busy day, huh," he said; in an obvious attempt at making casual conversation.

"Very," she replied, trying to fight off the conversation she knew was coming. It needed to be done, but at the same time she didn't want to have to deal with it. Visions of the day before leapt to her mind. Memories of Max looming over her, stripping her while smiling maliciously. She felt an involuntary shudder ripple through her body before she could stop it. Max seemed keen on getting the conversation said and done, and continued to press on though, staring out of the cave instead of at her.

"Look, I'm not sure that this means much coming from me due to all I've done, but I'm sorry," he said, not needing to say what he was sorry about. They both knew.

"I hurt you thinking that that was the only way to help you. In reality, I think I was unconsciously asking for help. I wanted someone to reach out a hand for me to take. Someone I could rely on. After spending so much time with you on the island, seeing how you were getting more and more capable, I think part of me wanted you to be that hand. While part of me wanted you away, another part wanted you to stay."

He gave a slight laugh and continued.

"Maybe I'm just over thinking this. I generally try to avoid thinking too hard about these things. Since I killed my father, I've tried even less. I just kept moving from one place and event to the next. Running from my past, hoping to never face it again."

He finally turned and looked at her. He had a gentle, honest smile on his face. For the first time in what felt like forever, Sekai felt comforted instead of scared by her American companion. Max continued speaking, with emotion filling his voice unlike anytime before.

"I ran from my past and dragged you into my suffering, but you didn't run. You came back, and forced me to face everything. While you were talking to those girls I was just sitting and thinking. Your coming back to face me means more to me than I'll ever be able to convey. I want to start though by saying, thanks, for everything."

Before Sekai could respond, Yuuki emerged from the forest carrying wood in his arms with a bulging pack on his back. Sekai stood up and walked over to greet him. Together they walked into the cave and sorted through everything he had collected. Miho ministered to his small amount of cuts and other wounds which had gone on unattended to due to his absence. Neither sibling said anything, but Sekai thought Yuuki seemed much happier than she had ever seen him when his sister showed her willingness to approach him.

Ayumi and Miho volunteered for the night watch being the least exhausted of the group. They each picked up a knife for defense while on guard. Max had checked Erika's gun earlier and found that she only had three bullets left in it. The gun was stowed safely away in Sekai's bag. She even made sure to inform Yuuki, that way he wouldn't worry about it. Erika's body was wrapped up in their spare cloth and stowed in the back of the cave out of sight for burial in the morning.

As Sekai fell asleep that night with Clifford huddled next to her, she couldn't help but glance around at her companions and realize that they really were that now. They weren't the alternatively acquaintances and enemies they had been all day. Somehow they were all firmly together. As she fell into blissful sleep, it never occurred to her that she might be that reason.


	11. Chapter 11: In Good Company

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Cage of Eden/Eden no Ori.

**Note:** Sentences in ' ' are being said in Japanese and sentences in " " are being said in English.

**A/N:** I would like to thank BlindSeer0 for beta reading the fic like usual.

**Please Read and Review, your feedback helps me write better stories.**

**Chapter 11: In Good Company**

Yuuki looked down at the small girl in front of him and wondered from where she was getting the courage to argue against him. It was the morning after Hades had forced him and Sekai to fight to the death. The night had passed uneventfully, Ayumi and Miho switching guard spots with Yuuki and Sekai after four two had sat quietly, each with a knife, watching the darkness outside of the cave recede as the dawn came. It had only been as everyone was awake and they were eating a breakfast of nuts, berries and fruit that trouble started.

'We need to do something about Erika-san's body," said Miho, breaking the quiet meal. 'We should at least bury her so that animals can't eat her body.'

'I say we leave her,' responded Yuuki callously.

Miho had looked him in surprise at the statement. Sekai had just studied him neutrally, not letting on what she thought. Yuuki was getting annoyed by her. Every moment he spent with her, she seemed to be getting harder to read instead of easier. The wolf pup Clifford and the American Max just continued to eat, not understanding the conversation and knowing they'd be filled in later. Glancing to his left, Yuuki saw the final member of his group looking at him, an expression on her face he didn't know she could make. Ayumi was staring at him in pure hatred at his words. He guessed it was to be expected, so he decided to clarify.

'I say we leave her because we don't have any tools,' he said. 'If we're lucky, we could bury her in a day, and be completely tired out. We've spent enough time in one place, and should get moving.'

'Then let's cremate her,' came a surprisingly strong voice from Yuuki's left. 'I want to take her ashes home to her family.'

Yuuki glared at the little girl next to him, surprised when she didn't back down from his gaze.

'That's even worse,' he replied. 'We'd need to gather enough wood to make a pyre, and then burn the body. Who knows how long it would take? Or even if we could get it hot enough. Maybe if we had an oven, but we don't. Oh, and don't forget all of the bloodthirsty animals it would attract.'

'I don't care if my life's at risk, I'll do so anyways. You just leave.'

'Don't be stupid, I'm trying to be helpful!' he said.

In truth, he knew that if he didn't persuade Ayumi, Miho would likely side with her. His sister had always had a bit of a sentimental streak and thought with her emotions more often than her head. The little girl's plight would surely tug at her heart strings, putting her in danger also.

'Erika-san deserves it,' said Ayumi.

'So you say. She never did anything for me besides hiding the existence of a gun and the training to use it,' he let loose a sigh, deciding to switch strategies. 'Do you know what will happen if you can't get the fire hot enough? You'll be left with ash and charred bone. A horrifying burnt skeleton. Can you deal with that?'

'I will bring something back,' she replied, although Yuuki thought she might be close to giving in since she had started shivering.

'Then chop off a finger and call it a day.'

'Yuuki!' exclaimed Miho, horrified at his words.

Tears had started to slowly fall down Ayumi's face. Yuuki felt slightly sorry for her, but he wasn't going to risk his and Miho's life on this stupid venture. While he had been gone foraging the day before, a group had formed, and Yuuki doubted he could separate Miho from it. Now he was going to be forced to protect everyone so that his sister didn't do anything stupid.

'Would chopping up the body before burning it help the process along?' asked Sekai calmly, finally speaking up.

'Maybe, I have no clue really,' replied Yuuki, deciding to humor her. If he managed to get Sekai to see reason, she might be able to convince the others. 'I think the problem is still the fuel. Unless we can find something that burns hotter, it wouldn't be likely. Even if we managed to burn the whole thing, it would take a large amount of wood and time. And then you'd need to wade through ash to find the correct stuff. Might as well just write her name on a log and burn that to take home.'

Miho just continued to glare at him, but Sekai seemed to take his suggestions seriously, becoming contemplative. Then she said something in English. Her words must have been directed at the American, as he looked up at her and responded. Yuuki thought he recognized some of the words being said, but he wasn't able to make sense of anything. English had never been his strongest subject, and the only reason he had ever needed it was to pass tests. They spoke back and forth for a few minutes, finally Sekai spoke up in Japanese.

'Ok, I've talked to Max about the situation,' she said. 'He assures me he's rested enough, so he's going to go out and search for a solution to our problem. Miho-san, can you check his wounds before he goes?'

'Sure,' said Miho, hoping up and grabbing her first aid kit. As she started her examination, Sekai spoke up again.

'Once he leaves, he'll have two hours to get back here. If he's not back in that time, we'll leave him and Erika-san's body. In the meantime, we'll try to collect some supplies from the surrounding area. Does this plan work for everyone?' she asked, looking around at the group.

'But we'd be leaving Erika-san behind,' replied Ayumi.

'I know, and I would feel bad about it, but Hayasaka-san is right, we need to consider our own lives over the dead.'

'Who elected you the leader?' asked Yuuki. He didn't see too much wrong with the plan, but her taking command as if it was natural bugged him.

'If we're putting it to vote, I vote for Sekai-san as our leader,' said Miho.

Yuuki just glared at his sister, an act he was finding he was doing with increasing frequency. Sekai didn't react in surprise, and Yuuki was having trouble figuring out if she had had this planned, or it was just a nice surprise.

'I vote for Sekai-san also,' said Ayumi, speaking up again. The tears were gone from her face now, and she seemed to have gotten herself under control.

'Two votes for me then,' stated Sekai with maddening calm. 'I guess I'll vote for myself as leader also. What about you Hayasaka-san?'

Yuuki was backed into a corner and he hated it. On one hand, Sekai had done a good job the other day getting things sorted out and her plan today had been a good compromise. On the other hand, Yuuki hated to give control to others. He had only seen a few cases of her success, how could he know she'd stay just as competent? If he dissented now he'd very likely be alone in his opinions. Before he could speak up, Sekai beat him to the punch.

'I know you aren't happy with the situation, but I promise to do my best for everyone,' she said, looking right at him. 'Even if you disagree with me, I'll try to assist you. Actually, it's probably good to have someone around with a radically different opinion. So, are you willing to listen to what I have to say as leader?'

'Fine,' conceded Yuuki reluctantly. 'But if you do anything I consider dangerous, I will hold you responsible and stop you, got it?'

'Sure,' she replied, her face finally breaking its neutral appearance for a small smile, but she was instantly back to business. 'Miho-san, how's Max?'

'I replaced his bandages, he should be ready to go,' she replied, putting away some bandages into the kit.

'Ok,' said Sekai. She then said something in English and Max stood up. He waved to everyone, and taking his duffel bag and knife, walked out of the cave. When he was gone, Sekai turned to everyone else.

'Hayasaka-san, you're in charge of the watch,' she said, handing him a small analog wristwatch that they had found in Ayumi's bag the night before. 'In two hours, you start the march. Everyone make sure you're ready to leave either when the time comes or in case something goes wrong. I'm going to go out foraging. If I'm lucky I'll find something useful out there. Sound good?'

'Sure I guess,' he grumbled.

Sekai grabbed up her knife and her backpack, leaving the food and water in the cave. She said something in English and the wolf pup stood up and walked over to her, wagging his tail. The pair then walked out of the cave, waving goodbye.

'Stay safe Sekai-San,' yelled Miho. Sekai just looked back and smiled before walking into the forest.

Yuuki took a look at the watch and noted the time. With a sigh, he leaned against the cave wall and relaxed for a minute. He then opened his eyes and sat facing the cave entrance, ready in case any trouble showed itself.

After about a half hour, nothing had happened. In between checking the cave entrance, Yuuki had watched the two girls in an attempt to entertain themselves. Having already made all of their preparations to their kits and ready to leave at a moment's notice, they were just sitting around bored and fidgeting. Unsurprisingly, it was Miho who started up a conversation.

'So, Ayumi-san,' she said, drawing the small girl's attention. 'Do you have any hobbies or anything you do in your free time? You know, things you like to do or are interested in?'

When Ayumi didn't do anything but look down in embarrassment, Miho spoke up again.

'I like to sing,' she said. 'In my free time I go to karaoke with my friends, or when I'm alone I'll sing to myself. I want to become a singer when I graduate. Of course, beyond singing, there's not much else to me. I hang out with friends and like to talk.'

Ayumi looked up, opened her mouth and then closed it again. When Yuuki thought she was going to go back to staring at the ground, she finally spoke up.

'I like to read,' she said simply.

'What do you like to read?' asked Miho, excited at getting a conversation going.

'Manga,' replied Ayumi timidly. 'American comic books…'

'American comic books? I've never read any of them, which ones do you like?'

'A lot of them….'

Silence reigned for a minute, but was broken surprisingly by Ayumi.

'I also like to….' She said quietly, her words trailing off into the unintelligible.

'Like to what?' asked Miho, becoming excited now, and leaning forward.

'To draw…'

'Really!' said Miho excitedly. 'Do you have anything with you that I could see?'

'I have a sketch pad, but I haven't drawn anything recently…'

'Then why don't you start now?' asked Miho.

'I'm not really any good…'

'Then you just need to practice,' Miho gave a smile. 'How's this, every day for at least an hour you'll practice drawing and I'll practice singing! That way we won't get out of practice.'

Before Ayumi could protest, Miho had already started with vocal warm-ups, preparing to practice singing. After a few minutes of listening, Ayumi dug into her backpack and pulled out a sketch pad and a case of pencils and pens. She sharpened one of the pencils in a small sharpener, and then got to work.

Yuuki alternated his time in the next hour watching the cave entrance and watching Ayumi work out of the corner of his eye. He had to admit it was interesting seeing her sitting there looking so focused on drawing. She always came off as so useless and pathetic, it surprised him to see her like that. Her hand would move the pencil back and forth, sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, sometimes not moving at all as she considered her next move. Every so often she would stop and erase a line or two that she wasn't pleased with. All the while, Miho's soft singing filled the air.

After more than an hour of drawing, Yuuki finally saw Ayumi put down her pencil stare at the drawing for a good minute, and turn completely red in the face. She closed the book and started to quickly put it away into her backpack. Sadly for her, Yuuki wasn't the only one who saw her reaction.

'Are you done with a drawing?' asked Miho, breaking off mid-melody.

'Yes,' replied Ayumi timidly.

'May I see it?'

'It's not very good,' responded Ayumi.

'I would still like to see it,' said Miho gently with a smile.

Yuuki had read a few pages of one of his sister's Shoujo manga once. In it the main love interest had been talking to the shy heroine. He had said a line just like that, flowers and sparkles surrounding him. Yuuki had a hard time not imagining his sister looking like the guy at that moment.

Ayumi's resistance crumbled just like that of the heroine's and she handed over the sketch book. Miho carefully flipped through the pages, stopping at each one to carefully look it over. Finally she got to the newest drawing. She spent the longest looking at this one. Ayumi sat looking at the ground, her long black hair not hiding the luminescent blush coloring her face.

Finally Miho looked up and brushed back Ayumi's hair, looking her straight in the eyes. Miho gave a gentle smile.

'I like it,' she said. 'I think it's a very good drawing of me.'

'You think so?' asked Ayumi hopefully.

'I do,' responded Miho. She looked at the drawing again. 'Have you ever put thought into drawing manga? You like reading them and you like drawing, it might be a nice path for you.'

'I draw too slowly. Plus I don't know what I'd write about,' replied Ayumi despondently.

'You'll get faster with practice,' Miho assured her. 'There's no rush to think of a story. A great idea will come to you eventually I bet. Are you going to do more drawing now, or are you done for the day?'

'I think I'll draw some more,' replied Ayumi timidly.

Miho handed her the sketch pad and went right back to singing. Ayumi looked around a bit, and her gaze stopped at Yuuki. He just ignored her, watching the cave entrance. Eventually he heard the soft sound of pencil on paper.

About ten minutes passed before anything else happened. Yuuki was starting to wonder if Sekai or Max were going to make it back before they had to leave. He wondered briefly why he should care, but his thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

'Hayasaka-san?' asked Ayumi timidly.

Yuuki briefly thought she was talking to Miho again, but when he peeked over, he saw her staring right at him.

'Need something?'

'I was just wondering…'

'Wondering what?' he asked tersely.

'I was just wondering what your hobbies or dreams are,' she said quickly. 'I mean, we talked about mine and Miho-san's, but I don't know anything about yours.'

'Does it matter?'

Ayumi replied with a mumble.

'Speak clearly,' he snapped.

'It would help me to draw you!' she yelled, her face turning red.

'Why do you need to know that stuff to draw me?"

'So I can get a sense of your character,' replied Ayumi.

'What are your hobbies and dreams?' asked Miho, joining in the conversation. 'I don't think I've actually heard you talk about them.'

'My hobby is practicing my Martial Arts and I don't have any dreams,' he replied with finality, hoping the conversation was over.

'You don't want to do anything Martial Art's related when you're older?' asked Miho, pushing the conversation.

'There's not really a lot for me to do with it besides get into fights.'

'Maybe an instructor?' pondered Miho. 'Or how about a stunt coordinator for movies? Maybe a police officer?'

'I'll figure it out when we get off of the island safely,' he responded, ending the discussion.

He noticed Ayumi staring at him for another few minutes before returning to her drawing, pencil scratching frantically across the page. Yuuki returned to watching the cave entrance and he saw two figures approaching.

'How's it going in there?' asked Sekai, walking up. Yuuki stood, and walked over to greet her.

'No problems so far, just lots of talking,' he responded.

'Anything interesting?' she asked, walking into the cave and emptying a large batch of fruit, berries and nuts onto the cave floor. Her wolf followed close by, snatching up one of the berries in its mouth.

'Not really,' replied Yuuki. Miho glared at him when he said this but she didn't say anything.

'Is Max back yet?'

'Haven't seen him.'

A voice yelled out from the cave entrance. Yuuki looked and saw the large American man walk in, holding a duffel that looked full of something heavy. He said something in English to Sekai, who responded likewise. A short conversation ensued and Max walked to the back of the cave by where they were keeping Erika's body. Yuuki looked at Sekai.

'Did he actually manage to find something useful?' he asked her.

'Yeah, he called it coke,' she replied. 'Apparently it burns better than coal and should be able to get hot enough to incinerate the body.'

'Wait, isn't coke man-made? Where the heck did he find it?' he asked.

'He said he was surprised to find some in the ground. It's man-made?' asked Sekai

'Generally. I think you can find it naturally occurring sometimes, but I don't think it's likely.'

'How do you know so much about this anyways?'

'I worked a summer job at a crematorium last year,' he replied.

Max yelled something from the back of the cave.

'Max wants to know if anyone wants any items from the body,' translated Sekai. Yuuki suspected it was more for his benefit than anyone else's, considering he was the only one who didn't speak English.

'I think we should take everything we can,' said Yuuki. 'The cloth from the clothes could be useful. I'm sure we could find a use for everything.'

'You want to leave Erika-san naked!' exclaimed Miho.

'It's not like she needs any of it anymore,' replied Yuuki, looking at his sister. 'Plus, we're burning the body, so that negates the need for clothes even more.'

'It just seems so disrespectful,' said Miho, pouting slightly.

'Can I do it?' asked Ayumi, speaking up. 'I would also like to be the one to burn the body.'

'If that's what you want,' said Sekai. 'Go to the back and assist Max.'

'Where are we going to burn the body?' asked Miho.

'Outside in the clearing. I considered doing it in here, but the smoke would make things difficult for us. So, does anyone have any last questions or concerns before we get started?'

'No,' said Miho.

'None I guess,' replied Yuuki. 'I guess if everyone's so dead set on this stupid plan, I might as well just go through with it before you force me to lug around a corpse,'

'Sorry for pushing you into this Hayasaka-san,' said Sekai, looking at him, her face neutral and unreadable. She walked close to him and whispered. 'Just so you know, we're not doing this for Erika-san. We're doing it for Ayumi-san. She needs this before we can continue, and I think the risk is worth it to have her functioning fully.'

Sekai backed up away from him and yelled out something in English. A yell from the back of the cave answered her. Max came out holding a naked Erika in his arms. Her skin was pasty and cold looking. Yuuki had never seen a corpse before, having been in charge of running errands at the crematorium, not working with the bodies. The sight sent a slight shiver down his back. The American didn't seem bothered by it though, which made Yuuki wonder if it was really a good idea to be dealing with him. Miho was starting to tear up at the sight, and Sekai had as neutral a face as ever. Ayumi came out with a bundle of clothes and stuff in her arms.

'We'll probably want to wash some of this,' she said, tears falling down her face again. 'But she hadn't started to really decay yet, so everything seems fine.'

Miho went over and gave the small girl a hug, whispering gently in her ear, probably comforting her. Yuuki looked outside and saw Max putting greyish stones around the body. Eventually the whole thing was surrounded and he stepped away to view his handiwork. He said something in English and took out some small objects from his bag. Sekai turned to face Ayumi.

'You're sure you want to do this?' she asked the girl. Ayumi just nodded. She wiped her face with her sleeve and her face became determined.

'Yes,' she said simply.

'Ok then. Go over and Max will teach you how to light it. You know enough English to manage without me translating, right?'

'Yes, I think so,' replied Ayumi.

No further words were said as she walked over to consult with Max. Yuuki, Miho and Sekai finished packing everything else up, leaving only a plastic water bottle out. Some might say it was disrespectful, but it was all they had to contain the ashes. Eventually, Ayumi seemed to have a grasp of things, and without ceremony, a spark caught the pile, starting it to smolder.

While the coke heated up, the group finished up and prepared to leave, except for one of them. Ayumi just stood at the edge of things watching the body burn. The smoke came heavy from the fire, but luckily a soft wind was blowing through, blowing it into the forest instead of at them. With any luck the smoke would force the animals in the opposite direction.

It took almost an hour, but finally the fire died down, leaving only ash. After a few minutes of waiting to make sure everything was cool, Ayumi waded into the remains. She kneeled down at the center of everything and started to shovel the ash into the bottle, her mouth closed shut in a hard line. Finally, the bottle was full and the small girl capped it and stood up.

'I'm ready to go,' she said, wrapping the water bottle into Erika's clothes and stowing it away into her backpack.

With that the group started to walk into the forest, no one saying a word. Without any obvious communication, Max took the lead, knife in hand. Miho and Ayumi walked in the middle, with Sekai and Yuuki to either side and slightly behind. The wolf pup walked next to Sekai, always looking around for signs of trouble.

As the sun started to set, Sekai called a stop to the march. They found a slightly open clearing and sat down to rest for the night. They sat eating dinner in a circle. Ayumi and Sekai sat on either side of Yuuki. Max sat to Ayumi's right, Miho sitting between her and Sekai. The wolf pup sat in the middle in front of Sekai, nibbling on some berries. Yuuki saw Sekai stop eating and taking a breath, she spoke up.

'I've been thinking about a few things today,' she said, catching everyone's attention. Max looked up at her also, but didn't say anything, probably knowing he'd be filled in later. 'First off, I think we should start referring to each other by our first names with no honorifics. Would everyone be comfortable with this?'

'I don't really have a problem with it, Sekai,' said Miho with a wink. A smile broke across Sekai's face briefly, and she turned to Ayumi and Yuuki.

'What about you two?'

'I don't particularly care for being polite anyways, so I have no problems with it,' replied Yuuki, taking another bite of the fruit in his hand.

'I'm fine with it,' replied Ayumi. Yuuki thought he saw blushing, but the darkening sky made that more difficult.

'If you say so Ayumi,' he said casually, suddenly feeling the urge to tease her.

Predictably, the small girl turned bright red, and Yuuki thought she was going to overheat from embarrassment. He tried to resist, but a chuckle escaped him at her reaction. Instead of turning even redder, if that was even possible, Ayumi just stared at him in surprise. Silence reigned and Yuuki saw everyone else just staring at him.

'What?' he asked, confused by their reactions.

'You laughed,' said Sekai, her neutral face slipping in surprise for a second.

'So?' he asked. 'What's so surprising about me laughing?'

'I haven't seen you laugh since you were eight,' replied Miho, shock also on her face.

'Ok, so I don't laugh often and I just did. Do you have a problem with that?' he asked, hostility creeping into his words.

'No,' replied Miho. 'It's just rare. Honestly, I wish you'd do that more often.'

'I'll do it when we're off this island and safe,' he responded.

'To work that goal, I have another suggestion I think we should follow,' said Sekai, picking up where she had left off, her face all business again. 'I think we should all speak English as our main language.

'Wait what?' asked Yuuki incredulously. 'Why would we do something stupid like this?'

'Several reasons,' replied Sekai. 'First off, Me, Ayumi and Miho are already fairly competent in English, with a little practice they'll have no problem holding conversations. It'll also make it so Max can contribute to conversations.'

'Yeah, but I know almost no English,' said Yuuki. 'Why can't he learn Japanese instead?'

'Your knowledge of English is probably better than his knowledge of Japanese. You've also taken courses, you just need a few reminders and tips and you should be doing fine soon.'

'Still not seeing how this will help our survival.'

'On the off chance we encounter the other plane passengers, we'll have an advantage with a language most of them don't understand,' Sekai then leaned closer to Yuuki and whispered to him. 'Plus, if you learn English, you'll be able to understand Max, but he won't be able to understand you.'

Yuuki considered her words, and knew she made sense.

'Fine,' he agreed reluctantly. 'I'll go forward with your crazy plan.'

'Great,' said Sekai. 'Anyone else have any objections?'

No more objections were raised. With no more to say, everyone went back to eating quietly. Miho was the one to break the silence.

'I actually have another idea,' she said, looking at Sekai. 'Is it ok if I talk to you about it Sekai?'

'Sure,' replied Sekai leaning in closer to Miho.

They whispered to each other for a while, their voices too low for Yuuki to catch any of it. After a while they sat back into their previous positions, a smile on Miho's face.

'Miho just suggested a good idea to me,' said Sekai. 'Since there are so few of us, we're open to attacks. We need to always make sure we're prepared and travelling in a group. If you must separate, then we should operate in pairs. Never let your partner out of your sight.'

'Sounds like a good idea to me, except we only have five people, so there's going to be an odd man out,' said Yuuki.

He was already mentally pairing up people in his head. He'd be with Miho which would leave Ayumi and Sekai to a pair. Max would probably be fine on his own, if Yuuki's read of the American was right. This was seeming like a better and better idea.

Since the fight the day before, he'd noticed Miho avoiding him. It wasn't very obvious, like she was running away or anything, but it was there. She'd spoken to him the minimum amount possible, and was generally staying at a distance. This new set-up would allow him to stay close to her and protect her better.

'We have five plus Clifford,' replied Sekai, indicating the wolf pup at her feet. 'I'll be pairing up with him. That'll leave the remaining pairs as Miho with Max, and Ayumi with Yuuki.'

'What!' exclaimed Yuuki. 'Why's Miho with the American and not me?'

'We decided that since Max is still wounded, it'd be a good idea to keep him with our first aid expert,' replied Sekai with maddening calm. 'Plus, when he's better, he'll probably be the best at keeping her safe due to his military training. Everyone will be safer if we can patch them up if they injured.'

Yuuki clenched and unclenched his fists, hating the logic. Finding out that Max had military training was a surprise, but it also explained some things. While he would be forced to protect a weak little girl who wasn't Miho, he'd have to trust his sister to a man they'd only known for two days.

What really irked him though was that Miho had been in on the planning, and things had still turned out like this. While he wanted to believe the decision had been all Sekai's, Miho's recent avoidance and her current compliance without complaint pointed to a different conclusion. Yuuki was being forced into routes he didn't want to take and it was annoying him.

'Does anyone have any other issues with this plan?' asked Sekai.

'Shouldn't you ask Max before you make this plan?' asked Yuuki, hoping the American would disagree or at least give him time to think of a solution to the problem.

'I want to know what everyone else thinks first,' said Sekai, deflecting Yuuki's stall tactic. 'What do you think Ayumi? Would you be fine with Yuuki as a partner?'

Yuuki looked at the small girl next to him and hoped she would say no. Ayumi was looking down at the ground, away from Yuuki, obscuring her face in the now dark night.

'I'm fine with it if Yuuki is…,' said Ayumi softly.

Yuuki heard a strange sound, but when he looked away from Ayumi, he just saw Miho and Sekai, both with neutral expressions on their faces. Sekai looked directly at him and he thought he saw the flash of a smile on her face, but it disappeared before he could be sure.

'So, that means only Yuuki is opposed so far?' asked Sekai. She got nods and a scowl in response. She ignored the scowl and continued speaking. 'Ok, I'm going to ask Max what he thinks then. If he's fine with the arrangements, would you also agree to them Yuuki?'

'I don't really have too much of a choice, do I?' he asked, staring her in the eye.

'It'll be good for you to get to know someone else,' said Miho, finally speaking up. 'We're a group now. A team, we need to work together and care for each other, not just for one or two of us.'

Yuuki hoped to hear a note of hesitation in his sister's voice. Something to signal to him that she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was him. As much as he searched though, it wasn't there. Miho was sure of the decision, and was earnestly hoping he would agree with her. Her dismissal hurt him, but to argue with her now with her so sure would just lead to a fight. Hating the almost certain circumstances being forced on him, Yuuki quietly steeled himself as Sekai explained to Max what they had been talking about.

The conversation took a while as Yuuki guessed she was filling him in on everything they had been talking about. Yuuki strained to distinguish each word as it was said, but comprehension escaped him as they spoke too rapidly for him to keep up. Finally Sekai ended her conversation and turned to look at Yuuki.

'Let me guess,' he said, speaking up before she could. 'He agreed to the plan?'

'Yes,' replied Sekai simply. 'Anything else you want to say about the topic?'

'Nothing I say would change it, so why bother at this point?' he responded, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. 'I know when I've lost a fight. I'll just roll with the punch on this one.'

'I'm sorry for forcing you,' apologized Sekai, sounding sincere. 'But on this island there's going to be many things we haven't wanted to and won't want to do that are necessary to survive.'

They decided that English lessons could wait until the morning, but they split up into their respective groups right that night. Night watch was split into three shifts, one watch for each group. Yuuki and Ayumi were assigned the first watch after nightfall. Sekai and Clifford had the middle watch, with Max and Miho getting the watch right before sunrise. With the sun now down, everyone but Yuuki and Ayumi called it a night, falling asleep on the ground.

Yuuki and Ayumi spent their shift in silence. They had no light due to not wanting to risk a fire. Ayumi had warned them that in places like Africa they didn't light fires because it could be more likely to attract animals due to being a new or novel experience. Her admittance of this knowledge had bugged Yuuki because of her insistence in burning Erika earlier, but he had decided to let it slide. He didn't need her getting weepy and useless on him when he was now in charge of her safety. Luckily the island was tropical and the nights were still fairly warm.

Their shift passed uneventfully and soon Ayumi informed Yuuki that it was time to wake up Sekai. He did so, taking slight pleasure in disturbing their new 'leader' from her sleep. To his surprise she woke up fairly easily and within a few minutes, she had woken up completely. Clifford sat at her side, somehow also awake. The pup looked around intently for trouble, seeming to be ready for anything.

As he was waking up Sekai, Ayumi had managed to fall asleep already. Yuuki stayed up a little longer, but soon also gave in and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
